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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578335">Rocket's Home for Uninvited Villains.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabiWaffle/pseuds/GabiWaffle'>GabiWaffle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Backstory, Comedy, DBAMC, F/M, Gen, Headcanon, M/M, Out of Character, Pokemon, pokévillains, this is for my blog</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:55:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>39,281</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578335</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabiWaffle/pseuds/GabiWaffle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of how all these idiots ended up living together in Giovanni's mansion.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aogiri | Archie/Matsubusa | Maxie, Athena | Ariana/Sakaki | Giovanni, Fleur-de-lis | Lysandre/Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>129</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Mansion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">“Are we there yet?” asked Silver from the backseat of the car. Giovanni sighed and, for a second, started to regret that whole “family trip” idea. His wife, Ariana, noticing her husband's annoyance, decided to answer herself.</p><p class="western">“We should be close, Sil. Don't worry. Why don't you do something to distract yourself? How about counting the Miltank in that meadow?”</p><p class="western">“Ugh...” groaned the young teen, crossing his arms “I'm not five anymore, mom! Counting Miltank is for babies...”</p><p class="western">“Come on, Silver! Stop complaining about everything!” replied Giovanni, annoyed. “If you're really not a child anymore, then you should have patience to wait until we get there!”</p><p class="western">Ariana glanced at him, rather upset about his lack of patience, then started smiling once again, turning to her son “You know, I really like to appreciate the landscape when I'm traveling. You could try! This region is very beautiful, look at those purplish trees! Full of flowers!”</p><p class="western">But the teen merely whined something incomprehensible and turned his head to the other side. For a few seconds, everyone in the car was silent.</p><p class="western">“Why did you buy a whole house in another region? Like... It's all just like Kanto or Johto here! It's all the same!” said Silver, out of the blue. “Like... If you were gonna buy a mansion, why not buying it in the countryside or at the beach or anywhere different?! Why buy it in another boring town just like Viridian?!”</p><p class="western">Ariana gently placed her hand on Giovanni's shoulder as a silent request for him to control himself, already predicting he would be angry because of the boy's complaints. Still, her gesture made little difference, and Giovanni raised his voice anyways.</p><p class="western">“You know nothing about this town! You haven't even seen the town yet! Or the mansion!” he yelled. “Why do you have to complain about everything, eh?! Besides, we already have a country house, so why would I buy another one?!”</p><p class="western">“Well, we already own a normal house in a boring town too, so why did you buy another one, eh?”</p><p class="western">“Because it's a nice place to travel with your family and relax!” yelled Giovanni from the top of his lungs, trying not to take his eyes off the road, and clearly not relaxed at all. “Also, it's much bigger than our house! We'll have lots of space there, so we can invite guests over!”</p><p class="western">“Yes, Silver. The house has several vacant rooms! Daddy thought about turning them into different areas, like a library, a cinema, a room for games...” added Ariana, trying to sound as cheerful as possible in order to lighten the atmosphere, but her efforts were useless.</p><p class="western">“Yeah, but 'daddy' could have done that in a cool place, like an island! Why didn't you buy an island, dad?” complained Silver.</p><p class="western">“Are you even aware of how much an island costs?!” replied the father, indignant.</p><p class="western">“Silver, just...” interrupted Ariana, now out of patience herself “give the darn mansion a chance, OK?”</p><p class="western">Suddenly, the boy stopped complaining and quieted down, as if by magic. A very specific kind of magic that happens every time a child realizes their mother is starting to get dangerously annoyed at their behavior.</p><p class="western">“What's the city like?” asked Silver, trying not to sound as grumpy as he actually felt.</p><p class="western">“There's a square near our house,” explained Giovanni, now much calmer than a few seconds before, “also, the mansion is just two blocks away from a Pokécenter! There's also a shopping center near the square, with a cinema! And there's a museum, a waffle restaurant, an amusement park...”</p><p class="western">“Amusement park?!” exclaimed Silver, suddenly excited. “Really? Why didn't you say it before?! That's awesome!”</p><p class="western">“See? I told you it was a good idea to buy a property in that town!” bragged Giovanni, satisfied about having won the argument. “The town is very quiet, which is great! And this time we won't have Bidoof problems, like we always have in the country house...”</p><p class="western">“There are no Bidoof there?” asked Ariana. “Good, we'll be able to buy some wooden furniture without worrying about the Bibarel...”</p><p class="western">“Exactly!” Replied Giovanni, proudly. “During Bidoof season, we can come to this mansion! And then, after the Bidoof swarm is over, we can go to the country house! It's good to have more than one option! Also, don't you always complain about not having Wifi in the country house, Silver? Well, this house will have Wifi! And phone signal! It's in an urbanized area! How about that, eh?”</p><p class="western">“Hm...” thought the boy out loud. “Yeah, OK. Maybe it wasn't such a dumb idea.”</p><p class="western">“I'm sure you're gonna like the place, Silver!” said Ariana, satisfied to see both her son and her husband calm at the same time, which was a pretty rare sight, considering their temper.</p><p class="western">They drove for a few more minutes before taking a turn to the right, entering a narrow exit on the highway. Soon, several houses started to show up as the car approached the city. Silver, curious about what the place would look like, opened his window and put his head out of the car, trying to look ahead at the horizon.</p><p class="western">“Now he's excited about it...” said Giovanni, aware that his son could not listen due to the noise of the wind outside the car.</p><p class="western">“Look, Silver! That's the main square!” announced Giovanni, as they drove by an open area with a fountain and several trees, “Our house is not far from here!”</p><p class="western">“Whoa!” exclaimed the teen, “There's a huge Parasect right there! And Venonats!”</p><p class="western">“And a Venomoth too.” added Ariana, looking through her window, watching the bug Pokémon on the grassy areas of the main square.</p><p class="western">“Yes, I've heard that many Pokémon from Johto were introduced into this region throughout the years... But as far as I know, they've introduced Pokémon from nearly everywhere here, so it's a great place to improve your Pokédex!”</p><p class="western">“Nice.” said Silver, now trying to sound less excited than he actually was, and that was due to sheer stubbornness, for he didn't want to admit he had complained for no reason before.</p><p class="western">“And...” said Giovanni slowly, as he turned the wheel, entering a small street, “here it is! The mansion!”</p><p class="western">Silver glanced at the huge house before him and for a millisecond, his eyes sparkled. He hadn't thought the house would be that big. They entered through the gate that led to the garage and, as soon as his father parked the car, the boy immediately jumped out, excited to see the rest of the property.</p><p class="western">“This is the backyard,” said Giovanni, leaving the car, “there's a much nicer and bigger garden in the front! But there's no garage in the front, only a smaller gate. Which is actually nice, in terms of looks... I mean, the front view is just the garden and the gate to the street, it's pretty.”</p><p class="western">“Dad, there's enough space here to train a Gyarados!” exclaimed Silver. “Even a Tyrantrum!”</p><p class="western">“Then wait until you see the front!” bragged Giovanni, opening the back door of the house. “Here, there's not much inside now, but after we furnish it, it's going to look great!”.</p><p class="western">As he opened the door, the glow in Silver's eyes seemed to fade quickly. The room they entered was dark and completely empty, the walls had cracks and there were holes on the floor.</p><p class="western">“Aw, seriously? This sucks!” said Silver. “I thought you were rich, dad, why did you buy this garbage of a house?”</p><p class="western">“Shut up, Silver!” complained Giovanni, while Ariana rolled her eyes, placing her hand on her forehead. “This property was far from cheap, all right? And trust me, once we fix everything and decorate the place, this mansion will look brand new!” he tapped the boy's back, “come, let's see the rest of it!”</p><p class="western">They left the room through a corridor at their right and entered a smaller area. This one had more things in it, though. The walls were covered in tiles, there was a counter top and a sink, as well as a few wall closets.</p><p class="western">“Oh, that's a pretty big kitchen, eh?” said Silver, “I mean, it's old and dirty and all, but it's big. At least we have a sink here! So it's not as bad as the other room...”</p><p class="western">They kept walking, going from the kitchen to what should become the dining room, visiting the cellar and the pantry, then proceeding to a larger area with a big window from which one could see the garden, and that was bound to become a lovely living room, according to Ariana. As they walked, Giovanni would explain his plans for each area of the house. After proudly showing off his office, he led them upstairs. The second floor had no less than 10 rooms, plus two bathrooms.</p><p class="western">“Whoa!” said Silver, “This is by far the biggest room! Can I have this one for me, dad?”</p><p class="western">Giovanni laughed a bit before answering, “Well, Silver... This is the master bedroom! It's for me and Ariana. After all, we are two people... And you are just a teen!”</p><p class="western">“Ah... No fair...” complained Silver. “Well I'm gonna choose a room from the other ones then!” he said, before running out to the corridor.</p><p class="western">“Seems like he liked the place...” said Ariana, after the boy left.</p><p class="western">“I think so.” agreed Giovanni. “He just likes complaining... But I'm sure he's gonna like it here! Besides, it's not like we're living here permanently from now on or anything...” he laughed.</p><p class="western">“This room will look amazing after we put in some furniture...”, said Ariana, looking around.</p><p class="western">“Oh, yes! You'll love the bed I bought for this room! It's the biggest one I found!” Giovanni laughed. “I also bought some chairs... I think we could put them near that window...”</p><p class="western">Ariana nodded.</p><p class="western">“You know, when we had that huge trouble with Team Rocket... Your defeat... The fall of the Team and everything... I thought we were doomed! Specially after you vanished...”</p><p class="western">“I needed some time for myself...”</p><p class="western">“I know, we've talked about this. But my point is... who'd have ever guessed we would recover so quickly, eh?”</p><p class="western">“I told you! Nothing like a few years without showing your face in public to make everyone forget about your crimes! Once the spotlight moved to someone else... I came back fully recharged! And here we are...”</p><p class="western">“Here we are...” repeated Ariana, glad. “By the way, you never told me in the end! How did you get that guy from the Joyful Game Corner to pay you what he owed?”</p><p class="western">“Oh, well...” Giovanni crossed his arms and sighed. “I'm not so proud of that one, usually I get to make them pay just by looking at them with my 'mean face', you know?” he laughed. “Sometimes Proton helps me by showing up with a knife. It creeps them out and they beg me to give them another chance... The same old story. And then they pay. Because they are scared.”</p><p class="western">“So that was it, just the usual?”</p><p class="western">“No, no. Let me finish!” he protested. “This guy was not so easily intimidated. I had to resort to the serious scares.”</p><p class="western">“Did you send Proton?”</p><p class="western">“No, Proton was busy. I hired a guy, some creep from Unova. I've had him work for me a few times in the past, whenever I had some international issue to solve. He even helped me find Grimsley when he tried to flee the Country with the money I lent him! That filthy Grimsley...”</p><p class="western">“Why do you keep lending him money?”</p><p class="western">Giovanni smiled, “because whenever I get him to pay, I always make him pay extra cash for the delay! 'I'll give you one more week, Grimsley... But that means 20% more. Got it? Unless you want to talk to Proton about it...' something like that. It always works.”</p><p class="western">Giovanni cleared his throat.</p><p class="western">“Anyway. I hired that fellow from Unova to do the dirty job. From what I got, it seems he threatened his family or something similar. I'm not sure, all I know is that it worked. The guy paid me and even agreed to give me 10% of all his profit!</p><p class="western">“Hm. Sounds like this Unovan guy is a competent one...”</p><p class="western">“Yes... But such an unpleasant person... If he wasn't so good at his job, I don't think I'd have hired him again after the first time. But well... That's irrelevant. What really matters is that we got the cash!”</p><p class="western">Suddenly, Silver entered the room again.</p><p class="western">“Hey, dad! I found a Woobat! It was on the ceiling in one of the rooms! Man, this place is falling apart...” Silver thought for a second. “We're not gonna sleep here tonight, right? 'Cause like... There are no beds!”</p><p class="western">“Of course not, Silver! Don't be stupid” replied Giovanni. “We're going to stay in a hotel. Your mom will go out with you tomorrow to explore the town while I'll get some people to start renovating this place!”</p><p class="western">“Seriously?” asked the teen. “When you said we were going to the new mansion, I thought we were gonna stay in the new mansion, not in some cheap hotel!”</p><p class="western">“First of all, it's not a 'cheap' hotel!” yelled Giovanni, once again annoyed, “and second, you just complained about staying in the mansion yourself! Do you prefer to sleep here on the floor? With the Woobats?!”</p><p class="western">“Giovanni, calm down...” interrupted Ariana in vain.</p><p class="western">“Of course not, dad, gee, you're so dumb! I'm not saying I want to stay here! I just mean I thought the house was good enough to use already! But no, we'll have to go to this stupid hotel now...”</p><p class="western">“Now listen here, you brat...!” began to say Giovanni, but Ariana not-so-delicately shoved her hand directly into his face and pushed him back, as she spoke to Silver herself.</p><p class="western">“If we want to use the mansion in the future, your dad will have to start getting it renovated. This will have to be done. And we need to get to know the town. This also needs to be done. So, if we have two things that need to be done, why not doing them simultaneously? Got it?”</p><p class="western">Silver blinked a few times before answering.</p><p class="western">“What's 'simultaneously'?”</p><p class="western">“At the same time, you idiot!” yelled Giovanni, trying to get rid of Ariana's hand in his face.</p><p class="western">“Would you stop being a disaster of a father, Giovanni?” asked the mother, still trying to cover Giovanni's mouth. “But yes. Simultaneously means “at the same time”. While your father deals with the house renovation, we get to know the city. Deal?”</p><p class="western">Ariana then proceeded to take her hand off Giovanni's face and extend it to Silver's direction, offering a handshake that Silver timidly accepted, most probably not because he agreed with it, but because she was staring at him with burning eyes that seemed to say something along the lines of “if you don't shake my hand right now, I will turn the rest of your weekend into a living nightmare”.</p><p class="western">After arriving at the hotel, Giovanni called the renovation company while Ariana and Silver checked the decoration catalog, choosing pieces of furniture and the colors they wanted the walls to be. Silver would always go for the shades of blue and purple, while Ariana was more fond of warm tones, which resulted in a color palette that resembled some kind of cheap Andy-Warhol-Inspired pop-art painting by a fifth grade student who hadn't done any research on the matter.</p><p class="western">It didn't take long before the two of them gave up on the task and decided it would be easier to hire a professional decorator. At first, Giovanni resisted that idea, but after seeing the colors that his family had chosen for the living room, he changed his mind and decided that it would be worth spending a bit more money to get a professional decoration job.</p><p class="western">As they had decided while visiting the mansion, Ariana and Silver spent the following day getting to know the town. They went to the main square, had lunch in the shopping mall and even went to the city's biggest market, just to see what they sold there. Meanwhile, Giovanni went back to the mansion and spent his day supervising and criticizing the renovators' work on the house, trying to explain to them how they should do their own job, even though Giovanni himself had never even seen a floor-plan in his life before, while the renovators were literally professionals.</p><p class="western">Luckily for the renovators, decorators and architects, Giovanni and his family were not planning to stay in that town for much longer, and, after enjoying the town together and taking Silver to the amusement park on the following day, they went back to their house in Viridian.</p><p class="western">After less than 6 months, the house had turned into a completely different place. Even though the structure looked exactly the same, the walls, floors, roofs and lights had all been fixed, cleaned, replaced or painted. The tall grass in the front-yard had been cut, and the Pokémon hiding there were sent to live in wild areas nearby. In fact, everyone in the town had already gone check the old mansion at least once. It looked brand new!</p><p class="western">Finally, after seven months of wait, the family would go to their new house to spend a week in that cozy little town. This time, not even Silver complained about the trip, at least not after his parents promised they'd take him to the amusement park every day in the morning. Not that they planned on actually doing it, but it was a good way to get the boy to quiet down.</p><p class="western">As they stepped into the mansion, Silver had already forgotten about the amusement park, and started to run around, amazed by how much better the place looked now, pointing at all the pieces of furniture he recognized from the catalog, and talking about how the place looked even bigger now that it had all those things inside.</p><p class="western">The boy ran upstairs to check on his room, while Giovanni and Ariana sat down by the window in the living room.</p><p class="western">“You know what, Ari?” he said, as he stretched his back, “You were right! This room with this view just had to be our main living room...”</p><p class="western">“And I suppose you were right about the brown couch. It does look good with the curtains...” she giggled. “Who would have guessed you had talent for matching colors after all, right?”</p><p class="western">“Nah... I'm a man of taste, that's all. I know nothing about colors. That is a girl thing... But when I look at two things that look good together, I know that they look good together! It's simple!”</p><p class="western">“Well... I have to admit it looks good. The whole place looks good... It was worth the money...”</p><p class="western">Giovanni chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so!”</p><p class="western">After a brief silence during which they heard Silver's steps running along the hallway in the second floor, Giovanni stood up.</p><p class="western">“Well! I'm going to take our suitcase to the bedroom.” he said, as he walked up the stairs, while Ariana kept staring at the garden through the window. “You know what? Maybe I'll even leave some clothes here for good...”</p><p class="western">“Yes, why not? This way we don't have to keep taking everything from one house to the other when we travel...” agreed the wife.</p><p class="western">“Exactly! After all, this is just the first of many family trips to this house!” he added happily before leaving the room.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Hideout</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">That night was colder than usual. Maybe it was the world mocking him for trying to freeze the whole Region, thought Ghetsis, as he curled up against the rocky walls using his cape as a blanket. He had been sleeping in that cave for a few days, and felt like it was time to move from there to a more comfortable place. Maybe the police had already given up on finding him... Maybe it was safe enough for him to show up... Could it be...?</p><p class="western">No. Absolutely not. It would take them much longer to give up. Yes, the police had the habit of being very persistent when chasing wanted criminals... He had to hide for longer, maybe 2 or even 3 years...</p><p class="western">But 2 to 3 years living in a cave? Or in the middle of the woods? No. No way. He definitely had to find a better place to stay. But in Unova? It seemed inconvenient... Not only because of the police, but also because of all those annoying pests who had caused him all that trouble and ruined his plan! They even said he had gone insane, those freaks... No. Not Ghetsis. He knew he was still the same, just as mentally capable as always! Those stupid fools... They knew nothing. Just the thought of them made him so mad he might snap... He didn't want to think about all those idiots. The kids that defeated him, his stupid son, and that little Trubbish-head, Colress... Just thinking about them made him so mad! The only people he had now were those three idiots, that Shadow Triad. Bah! What use could they have now, that everything was lost? Besides, he had heard what they said last time... “I don't know, I think this time he actually has gone bonkers...”</p><p class="western">Bonkers?! Him?! Ghetsis?! One of the most incredible masterminds of all time?! What an insult! Those three morons would pay for that, yes they would...</p><p class="western">He turned around, trying to get into a more comfortable position.</p><p class="western">“Bah!” exclaimed the green-haired man, while picking up a small rock from the ground beneath him and throwing it against the nearest wall, “Stupid rocks!!! Stupid cave! Stupid, idiotic, moronic, ridiculous, preposterous, mindless, Ditto-brained, infamous freaks!!! I hate it all! I hate all of them!!!”</p><p class="western">He sat up, clenching his fists stubbornly while staring at all the dirt, rocks, twigs and whatever else there was on the cave's floor. How could one sleep in a place like that anyway?! He was an old man who deserved better! Not a bunch of rocks ruining his back even more!</p><p class="western">“He has gone bonkers!” he said in a sarcastic way, mocking the Shadow Triad members, although deep inside very offended. “Idiots! Bonkers... They are the ones who are bonkers!”. He stood up and started walking in circles.</p><p class="western">“I need to get out of this stupid place...” he said, then proceeded to kick each and every object that his legs could reach until losing balance and falling back on the ground. “Stupid Unova! I should have frozen you years ago!” he yelled.</p><p class="western">“That's it. Enough!” he said, struggling to stand up again, “I'm leaving tonight! Screw the police! If someone sees me, well, may Arceus have mercy on them, because I'm going to fight them with my bare hands, that's what I'll do!”. It was only after three attempts that he managed to finally get up.</p><p class="western">The old man started to look for something in the inner pockets of his cloak, then grabbed a Pokéball and threw it on the floor, releasing a huge Hydreigon.</p><p class="western">“Hydreigon! You idiot!” he yelled, and the Pokémon looked at him with the expression of a man who really needed a cup of coffee. “You demented beast! I want you to fly me somewhere else, understand?! I don't know where! And I don't care either! I just want to get out of this stupid region, you hear?!” The Hydreigon listened patiently, although he didn't have any interest in what his owner was saying. By then, he had already learned that, with Ghetsis, it was much easier to just remain in silence and do what he said without questioning.</p><p class="western">“Now, bend down, you filthy dragon! I can't get up on your back!” said Ghetsis, violently trying to push the Hydreigon down. The Hydreigon obeyed, rolling the eyes in its middle head while its left head sighed.</p><p class="western">After nearly a minute of agony and frustration from both sides, Ghetsis was now sitting on the Pokémon's back, holding tightly to the beast's black fur and pulling it without mercy.</p><p class="western">“Now go, Hydreigon, go! Fly me away! Anywhere! Let's find a new place to live... And you better hide in those clouds up there, you hear? I don't want the police to see us... And if I fall down, I'm going to take you with me, do you understand?! So don't even think about trying to drop me!!!”</p><p class="western">The Hydreigon took flight and entered the clouds. It was impossible to see anything inside, of course, and the Pokémon started to question his master's sanity. Perhaps Ghetsis had finally gone bonkers, he thought as he tried to figure out which way to go in the middle of that thick, dark mist. Still, once outside of Unovan territory, they would get out of the clouds and everything would be easier. With much unrewarded effort, the Hydreigon managed to locate itself and find out the shortest way to reach the border. Once crossed that line, they would finally be able to see again, and that thought was Hydreigon's main source of motivation at the moment.</p><p class="western">“Finally...” thought the Pokémon, as they left the port behind and started to fly above the ocean. Unova was now behind them, and the distance between them and the awful Unovan clouds kept growing more and more. For a second, the dragon even forgot about the annoying grumpy old citizen that was sitting on its back pulling its fur for no reason and screaming at it to go faster every fifteen seconds and even managed to enjoy that flight. The moon looked beautiful and there were plenty of stars in the sky... If only it could turn over and throw the old cabbage-head into the ocean... But no. If anything went wrong and it didn't manage to get rid of the old gramp, Ghetsis would become even more unbearable than usual.</p><p class="western">The sun was already rising when the two of them saw land. Yes, it was another region, and they would definitely choose that one to stay, because neither the Pokémon nor the trainer had patience left to keep searching for another one.</p><p class="western">“Finally! I thought we'd stay up there in the sky forever! Now get into your Pokéball!” yelled Ghetsis, now standing on the ground and keeping the Hydreigon in its ball.</p><p class="western">After walking for a few minutes, the old man arrived at a Pokémon Center. He sat down at a table and grabbed one of the Region Maps at the customers' disposition.</p><p class="western">“Hm... I've heard of this Region before...” thought Ghetsis, “a pathetic place! They don't even have a League! But a perfect hiding spot... No entitled brats to chase after me and ruin my life! No self-righteous Champions to annoy me with their morals! No petty Gym Leaders who think they are amazing just because they know how to use type advantage... Yes. This is probably a great place to stay for now... And the best part is... I highly doubt anyone will recognize me. No, these idiots... They look like they don't even watch any news!” he giggled. “They will never know who I am...”</p><p class="western">The old man kept his map and left the Pokécenter. The next step was finding some place. Where could he possibly stay in a Region like that? Definitely not in a hotel. Dumb as other people might be, he should still be careful. He didn't want to give his name or identity to anyone. Living in the streets was out of question! He still had some dignity, after all! Maybe, if he used his incredible manipulation skills, he might be able to convince someone to give him shelter... He crossed the street and started walking along the sidewalk. The problem with asking for shelter would be having to share the place with someone else. That would probably be unbearable... If he could get a place to be alone, that would sure be much better.</p><p class="western">He hadn't gotten to a conclusion yet when he saw a familiar face on the street. Yes, he knew that man. It was Giovanni. The Kanto-Johtonian Mafia boss himself! But what was someone as important as Giovanni doing at a miserable little region like that? He kept observing. Walking beside the Rocket Leader were a woman and a child who was eating a popsicle. They seemed to be related... Could it be his family? What was that, then? A family trip? He decided to follow them to find out more about it.</p><p class="western">After walking behind them for a few blocks, he saw the three of them stop in front of a large mansion. Oh... So that was it. Giovanni had a house in that region after all...</p><p class="western">But instead of going all inside, only Giovanni entered the gate, while the other two awaited on the outside. Ghetsis approached them stealthily, hiding behind a tree so that they didn't see him.</p><p class="western">“So, is the ice cream good? Are you happier now?” said the woman.</p><p class="western">“Yeah, I guess so.” replied the boy. “But I'm still mad we're going home, mom! I wanted to stay until Friday! Why can't we stay until Friday?!”</p><p class="western">“Annoying little spoiled pest...” thought Ghetsis, frowning.</p><p class="western">“Silver, you know that you can't miss any more classes. I'm not paying another whole year of that stupid language course just because you're lazy! We're going home today and you're attending class tomorrow! Understood? Besides, we'll come back in six months! Then you can go to the amusement park and have popsicles every day!”</p><p class="western">“Hm...” Thought Ghetsis, ignoring the rest of the conversation. A brilliant idea had now popped in his mind. Yes... That was perfect! Almost too perfect to be true! In fact, he felt extremely lucky.</p><p class="western">Soon, a car left the property's gate and Ghetsis managed to see that the man driving it was Giovanni. Without saying anything else, the woman and the child entered the car and soon the vehicle left.</p><p class="western">As soon as the car disappeared in the distance, Ghetsis burst out in a malicious laughter that scared away the Pidoves and Pidgeys from the square. A couple that was walking in his direction even turned around and started walking away from him.</p><p class="western">“Excellent!” he said to himself, out loud, as if he were the protagonist in a movie, and not just a random old man in the middle of the street talking to himself like a maniac. “Those three idiots will only come back in six months! That means their house is empty, eh...?” he laughed again. “Oh, yes... What an opportunity! That idiotic Giovanni will never even know I was here!”</p><p class="western">After looking around in the streets to make sure no one was watching him, Ghetsis grabbed his Pokéball and drew out his Hydreigon. “Hydreigon! Fly me up this gate!” he ordered, and the Pokémon obeyed. The next step was finding a way into the house.</p><p class="western">“Bah!” he said, after examining the door for a while. “Screw it! That Giovanni is rich after all, he can pay for a broken glass or two! Hydreigon, break this window!”</p><p class="western">For a millisecond, Hydreigon seriously considered using Ghetsis' head as a tool to perform that action, but instead, it used its tail to smash the glass without even getting hurt.</p><p class="western">“Excellent. Now back to your Pokéball!”</p><p class="western">The old man entered the mansion and tripped, falling on top of a small table that immediately broke with the impact.</p><p class="western">“Ugh! How dare you, you insolent piece of cheap furniture!” yelled the man, struggling to get up. “I could have built a better table!”</p><p class="western">He looked around. The house was very neat and the decoration was flawless. Weird. That place was probably new. Not that he cared. He started exploring the place, looking for food. After all, it had been over 12 hours since his last meal...</p><p class="western">It didn't take long for him to find the pantry, and it took him even less time to find a bag of chips, open it and start eating it. He picked up a few more items and left, using the front portion of his cloak as a basket. He went up the stairs and found several locked rooms. One of them was open, though. He entered the place. It was huge! There was a king-sized bed, two armchairs, a television... Yes, it was quite comfortable. He liked that!</p><p class="western">Ghetsis dropped all the items he had picked from the pantry on the bed and laid down next to his food. Oh, yes! The next few months would be great! What other international criminal on the run would have so much comfort in their hiding spot?! He laughed, while eating some pickled onions. After eating everything he had brought with him, the green-haired man started to feel slightly tired. He had been awake for hours, and needed a rest...</p><p class="western">His eyes started to slowly close and after less than a minute he was already snoring. However, that long-awaited sleep didn't last much, and after what felt like a mere second (and was, in reality, around five minutes), the man woke up with an unexpected sound. It was the sound of a very angry man.</p><p class="western">“What the actual Flaaffywool are you doing in my house?!” yelled Giovanni, who was standing by the open door of his room, looking at Ghetsis with an enraged expression.</p><p class="western">The old man screamed and fell off the bed, then proceeded to crawl his way to the closest armchair and clumsily sit up, while trying to recover from the scare.</p><p class="western">“Ghetsis! Wh... How!? Why?! Explain this right now!” yelled the other man, still standing on the same place and as enraged as before.</p><p class="western">“What are y-” began Ghetsis, confused, “How long did I sleep?!” he asked, looking around. Could it be that he had slept for six months?</p><p class="western">“I don't care how long you slept! What are you doing in my house?!” repeated Giovanni, who still couldn't believe the whole situation.</p><p class="western">It took Ghetsis a while to reply. He wanted to ask Giovanni what he was doing there, but he knew that was a stupid question, since he owned the place. But he wasn't supposed to have come back so soon...</p><p class="western">“I thought you were going back home for the next six months!” said Ghetsis, finally, and Giovanni widened his eyes.</p><p class="western">“Wh-” he tried to say. “No! I... Uh... Not yet, but...” he shook his head. “No, wait, don't change the subject! Why are you here?! Was it you who broke my window and my table?! Is that my food on my bed? Did you invade the pantry as well?”</p><p class="western">“Look...” said Ghetsis, trying to take control over the situation. “Let's go one question at a time. You ask one, then I ask one. I go first. Why did you come back so fast?”</p><p class="western">“So fast?! So you were spying on me?! You saw me leaving half an hour ago? Wait, you're not here to kill me, are you? Because this will be a big mistake, Ghetsis! Tell whoever hired you that they should think twice before...” but before Giovanni could finish, Ghetsis interrupted him.</p><p class="western">“Baaah! Kill you?! Of course not! Stop yelling all this nonsense! Why can't you just answer my question?”</p><p class="western">“<em>You</em> are the one who owes me an explanation!” yelled Giovanni.</p><p class="western">Ghetsis crossed his arms and looked aside. “Whatever then. Apparently, we'll have to do this your way, otherwise you won't cooperate, eh?! Fine! I'll explain!”</p><p class="western">“Finally!” exclaimed the other man.</p><p class="western">“I came to this region to seek shelter!” confessed Ghetsis. “And I saw you leaving your house and those folks with you said that you'd only come back in six months!”</p><p class="western">“Wait, those folks... You talked to my wife and son?!” Giovanni stepped back and almost fell.</p><p class="western">“Of course not! I just heard them say it! Then I thought, if Giovanni's house will be empty for six months, then no one will notice if I hide here for a while! It's a fair thing to think, right?”</p><p class="western">“Wrong!” said Giovanni, “you literally broke into my property! Even more literally than usual, since you <em>broke</em> my belongings in the process!”</p><p class="western">“Yes, but how else was I supposed to enter, eh?!” argued Ghetsis, as if he was right. “Look. Let's be reasonable...”</p><p class="western">“There is nothing reasonable in this situation!”</p><p class="western">“Let's be reasonable!” repeated Ghetsis, now louder. “I am an old citizen in need of shelter! And you are a rich man who owns a house that will stay empty for six months! Why is it such a problem to let me stay here?”</p><p class="western">“That is <em>definitely</em> not the main problem! The problem is that you didn't ask! And just broke your way inside! If you saw me and my family, why didn't you talk to me?!”</p><p class="western">“Tsc...” said Ghetsis, looking away. “Bah. Do you really think I'd come and beg you to let me stay?! And what about my dignity?!”</p><p class="western">“What dignity?!” yelled Giovanni “You came crawling inside my house and stole my food like a stray Zigzagoon!”</p><p class="western">“Well, I thought when you came back I'd have already left! How would I know you'd be back in five minutes? Why did you come back, after all, you still haven't told me!”</p><p class="western">“I came back because this is my house! I left to leave my wife and son at the Inter-regional Magnet Train Station and then I came back! Because the people from the security company are coming here today to install an alarm and I need to be here and supervise them! And I don't think I need to explain why I'm installing an alarm, since you are here, right?!”</p><p class="western">“Ghnn... At least I arrived before the alarm...” grumbled Ghetsis.</p><p class="western">“Now you answer me! First, what are you doing in this region? Second, why do you need shelter? And third, why me?”</p><p class="western">“I'm here because I had to leave Unova and my stupid Hydreigon flew me to this place! I didn't choose this stupid, useless region! I just arrived here!” yelled Ghetsis. “And I needed to leave Unova because I'm on the run! That's why I need shelter! The police is after me!”</p><p class="western">“The police, uh? I thought you were more discreet than that. What kind of job were you doing to get in such big trouble?” asked Giovanni, now slightly calmer.</p><p class="western">“I was doing no job! It was my own plan... Something I've invested in for ages! And now, it's all ruined!” answered the man. “Wait, have you not heard of it? What kind of idiot are you, Giovanni, do you even read the news?”</p><p class="western">Giovanni clenched his teeth in his mouth.</p><p class="western">“I've heard you had founded a Team... But last time I heard of it, it was some sort of Pokémon protection thing or whatever... I found it weird, but...”</p><p class="western">“Bah! Pokémon protection!” mocked Ghetsis. “I made that up to convince others to support me! And it would have worked, if it wasn't for that stupid little brat... She challenged me! And then, after losing everything, I had to wait three years before I could try again! And then, can you guess what happened? Another brat showed up and ruined it all again!”</p><p class="western">“Yes, I've heard this story before...” answered Giovanni. “So your Team was actually a criminal organization. And you got defeated...”</p><p class="western">“Yeah, pretty much...” admitted Ghetsis grumpily.</p><p class="western">“And now the police is after you, so you fled the country.” he sighed. “And then you decided to look for me because...?”</p><p class="western">“I wasn't looking for you! I was just fortunate to come across you and your family! But looking for you was never the idea, I was just looking for a hiding spot...”</p><p class="western">“How lucky of me...” added Giovanni sarcastically. “Didn't you have anyone to stay with? A family... Children... Friends, maybe...”</p><p class="western">“Everyone turned their backs on me!” yelled Ghetsis, annoyed. “And my stupid son, he told me that I could stay with him and he'd give me another chance to change and all that nonsense... I don't want to change! I don't need to change! He thinks he's better than me? Well he's not! He's a stupid little traitorous freak!” at this point, Ghetsis was yelling so much he kept spitting all around the floor, and Giovanni was slightly disgusted by that.</p><p class="western">“Man, this guy is going bonkers...” he thought, before answering.</p><p class="western">“Well, I'm sorry to hear about your defeat and this drama with your son, Ghetsis, but you can't stay here!” he said.</p><p class="western">“What?!” roared the old man, insulted, “Why?!”</p><p class="western">“Because I don't want you here! You broke into my house! You broke my things! You ate my food! I want you out!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, so after all these years doing you favors whenever you needed, that's how you repay me?! If it wasn't for me, that Grimsley guy would have run away from you with your money for good! He'd be in Alola or another paradisiacal island, enjoying life with the cash he owed you! And what about the Casino guy? How much money did you get from him?! All because of me, you ungrateful man!”</p><p class="western">“Those were not favors, Ghetsis, I paid you!” said Giovanni, “I don't owe you anything! If you need somewhere to stay, swallow your pride and go stay with your son!</p><p class="western">At that point, Ghetsis stood up and approached Giovanni, who felt pretty uncomfortable with that.</p><p class="western">“My son...? Come on, Giovanni! Think about that! You have a child yourself, I've seen him today! If you were in my place, would you ask him for help? Crawl to his feet like a worm and beg for shelter?! How would you feel if your son saw you like a failure?!”</p><p class="western">“Hmpf. My son sees me as a failure already...” answered Giovanni, looking away.</p><p class="western">“But not as a pathetic homeless worm! Looking for something to protect him from all danger, like a defenseless, soft, stupid baby! Wouldn't you feel humiliated?!”</p><p class="western">Giovanni remained in silence for a second, and Ghetsis grinned discreetly, realizing he had found some sort of soft spot.</p><p class="western">“I can't go back now...” continued the green-haired man, “I told my son I didn't need his help. I need to show him that I was right, that I am stronger than that! I need to go through this and get stronger to prove him I'm not a failure! I'll show him! I'll show everyone!”</p><p class="western">“OK. OK...” replied Giovanni. “You won't stay with your son then. Right. Maybe it's better anyway, since you had to leave Unova.”</p><p class="western">“Yes...” Ghetsis smiled.</p><p class="western">“But here...” Giovanni sighed. “Look, Ghetsis, I can't let you stay, this is insane!”</p><p class="western">“Insane?! Are you really bailing on me after so many years of friendship?! I thought you were better than that!”</p><p class="western">“Friendship?! Y-” Giovanni stuttered. Ghetsis had never been a friend or anything mildly related to that. “Look, I know I've used your services before, I know you are a competent bounty hunter and everything... I've never had any problems with you, professionally... But lending my house is...</p><p class="western">“It's just for six months!” insisted Ghetsis, “and then you'll have it back, you can come with your family and spend as much time as you want here! They won't even know I've been to this place! And I can take care of the house during this period... I will keep burglars off! How about it?”</p><p class="western">“And what about the broken things? The glass and the table...?”</p><p class="western">Ghetsis groaned.</p><p class="western">“I will pay for that...” he said, looking away. “I pay for the damage and you let me stay here for six months. Deal?”</p><p class="western">The old man looked Giovanni dead in the eyes and extended his hand for a handshake.</p><p class="western">“All right.” sighed the brown-haired man. “All right. We have a deal... But it's just six months! In six months I want you out! Got it?”</p><p class="western">“Don't worry,” said the other man, turning his back to Giovanni and walking back to the armchair, “I gave my word.”</p><p class="western">“And it's just because you have no other option! And you are old... If it weren't for that... You'd be out of here right this instant!”</p><p class="western">“Meh...” groaned Ghetsis, but Giovanni didn't hear it. “So. When are you going home for real?”</p><p class="western">“On Friday.” Answered the man.</p><p class="western">“And I presume you'll stay in this room until then...”</p><p class="western">“Of course I will, this is my room!”</p><p class="western">“So where do I stay?”</p><p class="western">They left the room and turned left into a corridor that led to a small balcony. In that corridor, to the right of the stairs that led to the first floor, there was a door.</p><p class="western">“This is a guest room.” said Giovanni, opening the door. “You can stay here for now, but it barely has anything. We're not done decorating yet... The whole second floor is still basically empty.”</p><p class="western">“There's a bed, it's enough.” said Ghetsis, staring at the bed that happened to be the only thing inside the room.</p><p class="western">“Well...” said Giovanni, “have fun with your room... And take all that trash you left on my bed with you! I'm going downstairs. The people from the security company should arrive soon...”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Grooms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">“Hello?” called a familiar voice, “are you two hom- uh... There?”</p><p class="western">Captain Stern waited for a few seconds, standing on top of his beloved submarine. From the inside he could hear the voices of two men, but could barely understand what they were saying.</p><p class="western">“...can't open... ... No!”</p><p class="western">“... ... to the left... ... ... it's not...”</p><p class="western">“I know! ... just gimme a sec... ugh...”</p><p class="western">“... ...too skinny...”</p><p class="western">“I'm not!”</p><p class="western">“... help you... ... come on...”</p><p class="western">“ ... uhm... if you just let me... ugh...”</p><p class="western">“... really... handle... ... not that hard...”</p><p class="western">“Archie!”</p><p class="western">“See?”</p><p class="western">Suddenly, the hatch opened, and Archie, the leader of that former criminal group called Team Aqua emerged from the inside.</p><p class="western">“Hello, Captain, sir!” he said, “sorry about the delay, Maxie was having some trouble opening the hatch because he's too weak for it, and he is too stubborn to let me help!”</p><p class="western">“I'm not stubborn!” screamed another voice from the inside.</p><p class="western">“Anyway, is ther-” but Maxie's voice interrupted him.</p><p class="western">“And I'm not weak either!”</p><p class="western">“Uh... Is there anything you need?” repeated Archie.</p><p class="western">The captain stepped back to give Archie some space, so that he could get out through the hatch.</p><p class="western">“Well, Archibald... I would like to know if you have already managed to find a place for yourselves. Because, you see...” he cleared his throat, “I would like to use the submarine again in the future so, well... I mean, you can't just live there forever.”</p><p class="western">“Oh, of course, captain! Don't worry! We're almost finding a new place!”</p><p class="western">“Hm... That's great, Archibald... Just, well... What exactly do you mean by 'almost'?”</p><p class="western">“Uh...” Archie scratched the nape of his neck and looked away for a second. “Just wait a sec, captain!” He proceeded to lean on top of the hatch and scream into the submarine, calling his roommate.</p><p class="western">“Maxie! Did you get to talk to Steven about the job thing and living in his place and all?”</p><p class="western">Maxie's voice echoed from the inside.</p><p class="western">“Uh... I did talk to him, but he said that he doesn't really need anyone right now so he told me to look for one of his friends, but I talked to his friend and he said he also didn't need anyone right now, so... Let's say I'm currently searching for another person, but I'm positive I'm gonna find someone soon! I mean, there must be another millionaire around Hoenn, right?”</p><p class="western">Archie stoop up and looked at Captain Stern, who had heard each and every word from what Maxie said.</p><p class="western">“Well, uh. Maybe next week?”</p><p class="western">“Archibald, look...” said the captain, placing his hand on his forehead. “I understand that you two are in a delicate moment right now, financially speaking... I understand that both of you regret the mess you've caused in Hoenn... I understand that you are on probation and trying to rehab and reintegrate society and all this must be pretty hard. And I am very glad that you have retrieved my submarine...”</p><p class="western">“Thank you a lot for your understanding, captain!” exclaimed Archie.</p><p class="western">“Uh... Yes. You're welcome...” added the captain, before continuing, “but the point is... You can't keep living in my submarine!”</p><p class="western">At that moment, the smile on Archie's face vanished, and his expression turned into a very confused look that exhaled very little intelligence.</p><p class="western">“I have allowed you to stay for two months, but... I need the submarine back now.”</p><p class="western">“But you have it back, captain! I told you, we're retrieving it! It's yours!” said Archie.</p><p class="western">“Yes, I know, Archibald, thank you, but... I meant I need it back as a functional vehicle. And as long as you two are living here, I can't use it...” explained the oceanologist, then pointed at the wire in which the couple used to hang their laundry, tied, on one end, to the submarine's periscope and, on the other end, to a branch of a tree in the captain's backyard. Archie stared at the clean socks and underwear waving by the wind for a few seconds, then looked back at the captain.</p><p class="western">“We can tie the other end of the string somewhere else if you want.” he said, but the oceanologist shook his head.</p><p class="western">“No, Archibald... I'm very sorry, but I must ask you two to leave. How much time do you need to get all of your belongings out of the submarine?”</p><p class="western">“Uh... I guess just a few minutes. We haven't got much. A lot of our things are at my cousin's house.”</p><p class="western">“Very well...” said the captain. “I'll give you two until Wednesday to leave... I'm sorry about this.”</p><p class="western">“Well... OK...” Archie scratched his head again. “OK, we'll leave before then.”</p><p class="western">The captain nodded, feeling at the same time relieved and a bit guilty, and then proceeded to climb down the stairs that led to the top of the submarine and go back to his house.</p><p class="western">At first, Archie just stood there, on top of his submarine-house, thinking about that conversation. Then, after almost two minutes, he entered the vehicle once again.</p><p class="western">“How's the captain doing?” asked Maxie, as soon as Archie entered the room.</p><p class="western">“Fine...” he said, vaguely, and then scratched his head once again, trying to think about a good way to tell his partner about the bad news.</p><p class="western">“Uh... Honey?” he said, and Maxie immediately looked at him wide-eyed. He knew that tone of voice and could already predict they had bad news.</p><p class="western">“What?” he asked, trying to sound less desperate than he was.</p><p class="western">“The captain said that... Well... he said he wants to use the submarine.”</p><p class="western">“Oh.” answered Maxie, unsure of whether or not that meant he could calm down. “Does he... Uh. Does he want us to get rid of the clothesline?” he asked.</p><p class="western">“Uh. Kinda?”</p><p class="western">“What do you mean 'kinda'?”</p><p class="western">“He wants the clothesline out... and... He wants us out as well.”</p><p class="western">At that very second, Maxie's heartbeat rate nearly doubled, and he swallowed hard, trying to hide his anxiety.</p><p class="western">“Oh.” He said, softly. Then stood up from his chair and walked to the corner where they had some bottles of water piled up. He grabbed one and took a sip, then took a deep breath.</p><p class="western">“Did he say when exactly he wants us to leave?” he asked, trying to sound casual.</p><p class="western">“By Wednesday evening.” answered Archie.</p><p class="western">“OK, let's cancel the wedding!” said Maxie, much faster than he wished to, and nearly starting to cry, while looking away so that his partner didn't realize his emotions.</p><p class="western">“What? Maxie...” protested Archie, somehow still very calm, which, by the way, made Maxie angrier.</p><p class="western">“There's no way we can leave until Wednesday evening unless we go back to the hideouts, so we have to cancel the plan of selling the hideouts! And without the hideouts' money, we can't afford a wedding! We cannot afford a wedding, Archie!” yelled Maxie, suddenly in despair.</p><p class="western">“Oh, come on, there's gotta be another way...” argued the other man, while Maxie started to walk around in circles and fidget frenetically.</p><p class="western">“No, no... There is no other way! I mean, we don't have any money! There's no space in my parents' house since my uncle moved in with his daughter, and your mom is living in a nursing home! Tabitha barely has space for himself and Courtney lives with her parents, besides, even though they are super close friends, it's not like they have any responsibility to take care of me or you specially! Matt is still looking for a place himself and Shelly is already keeping half of our stuff in her house, so I refuse to ask her for even more favors, which means that none of them could give us shelter! So there's literally no other way except if we just give up on all this! Because this was all a stupid idea anyway! Let's just give up on the marriage and all those stupid dreams and go back to our hideouts and then after we get a job, we can...”</p><p class="western">“Maxie.” interrupted Archie. “Calm down, boyo. Breath between your sentences!”</p><p class="western">“I just...” he tried to calm down. “I mean, where could we possibly go?!”</p><p class="western">“The hideouts are already for sale, honey...”</p><p class="western">“Let's cancel the sale! We just take the sale signs down and pretend someone already bought them!”</p><p class="western">“But Maxie!” said Archie, now slightly sad, “I don't wanna give up on the wedding!”</p><p class="western">“W-well...” hearing that, Maxie blushed, and started to feel slightly more calm. “I mean, we don't need to completely give up on it... I don't really want to give up either, Archie...”</p><p class="western">“So why would we do it?”</p><p class="western">“Because we don't have a place to live and we don't have money! We can't afford a wedding!”</p><p class="western">“OK, but... How about we sell the hideouts, then we keep half the money for the wedding and half the money to buy a place?” suggested Team Aqua' former leader.</p><p class="western">“We can't buy a house, it's too expensive to keep! Even if we sold the hideouts, we wouldn't have enough money long-term... Specially after all the fines we had to pay for the environmental disaster and...” Maxie put both his hands on his head and sighed. “We need to get jobs... We can't just stay in the hideouts either, we don't have money to keep them...”</p><p class="western">“Why don't you publish some stuff on scientific magazines? You used to do this all the time before Team Magma...”</p><p class="western">Without taking his hands off his head, Maxie chuckled, ironically.</p><p class="western">“Publish something? Archie, darling... After the mess we've gotten ourselves into, literally no one in the scientific community takes me seriously anymore... I'm literally a joke to them! No serious magazine would ever want to publish anything with my name on it...”</p><p class="western">“So, how about a fake name?”</p><p class="western">“Archie... Look.” Maxie sighed. “We need to reintroduce ourselves into society!”</p><p class="western">“That's what the captain said too!”</p><p class="western">“Yes, and he's right. But this is not gonna happen easily. Our reputations are... ugh... harmed by what we did. We need to find a more humble source of money! That's why I thought about working for a rich person! I can cook and clean, you can drive... uh...” he made a brief pause, “you can drive, right?”</p><p class="western">“Uh... Just the motorcycle.” replied Archie, and Maxie sighed.</p><p class="western">“Well, OK. But you can wash dishes and clean windows, or maybe clean a swimming pool or something! There are a lot of things we can do! And if we happen to find the right millionaire, he can hire us full time and maybe we can even live in his house!”</p><p class="western">“So that's what you offered Steven?” asked Archie.</p><p class="western">“Yes. But he doesn't need us... Actually, he doesn't even live in a mansion or anything... His house has literally one living room and one bedroom, and that's pretty much it! What kind of millionaire is he, after all?” Archie shrugged, and Maxie continued to talk, “Anyway, that's when I realized that not every millionaire owns a mansion... But every mansion owner is a millionaire! Or at least rich enough! So I've started to look for mansions around the region to try to find a millionaire who might need our services!”</p><p class="western">“Oh!” exclaimed Archie, excitedly, “you are so smart, honey!”</p><p class="western">“And after we find someone who hires us, we're gonna be able to finally start over! A new life, completely free of crimes and ecological disasters! We're gonna get married and maybe have children and everything will be fine!”</p><p class="western">“Nice!”</p><p class="western">“But I need time!” yelled Maxie, out of the blue, “I'm not gonna make it until Wednesday! I mean, maybe I will, but where do we go to if I don't?!”</p><p class="western">“Honey, look... Calm down. If we don't make it until Wednesday, we can go to one of the hideouts! I mean, no one has bought them yet, so we should be able to stay there at least for a night!”</p><p class="western">“But what about the following nights?! We might take months to find a nice place... And then if someone buys the hideouts, we won't have a place to stay anymore...”</p><p class="western">“But we'll have money.”</p><p class="western">“But not enough money for the future! And the wedding! And...”</p><p class="western">“Maxie,” Archie placed his hands on his boyfriend's shoulders. “One thing at a time, OK? If we just go one day at a time, everything will be OK. We'll find a way to solve everything!”</p><p class="western">“How can you be so positive...?”</p><p class="western">“We have a place to go for now. No one bought the hideouts yet. So let's try to find a mansion owner and offer our services! All right?”</p><p class="western">Maxie sighed again and hugged him, still worried, but slightly less anxious.</p><p class="western">“All right... OK.”</p><p class="western"> </p><p class="western">“So you'll be back tomorrow?” asked Shelly, while placing the last box on the big pile at the corner of her living room.</p><p class="western">“Yup! And if we're lucky, all those boxes are going away with us tomorrow night!” replied Archie, excited about his next adventure.</p><p class="western">“I need to thank you once again, Shelly, really. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't know what to do...” said Maxie, holding her hands delicately.</p><p class="western">“There's no need to thank me, Maxie. You and Archie are family! Now off you go, the quicker you leave, the quicker you'll find a millionaire or whatever you want to find...”</p><p class="western">“Yup! Off we go, millionaire hunting!”</p><p class="western">“Tell me you are not planning on robbing anyone, please, Archie...” asked Shelly, rather worried.</p><p class="western">“Oh, dear me, not at all!” said Maxie, before his partner could reply. “We're clean now, Shelly! No more associations with any sort of criminal activities from now on!”</p><p class="western">“Very well... Good luck, you two!”</p><p class="western">The couple left Shelly's house and proceeded to put on their safety goggles and mount on their Crobats. The mansion Maxie had found on the maps application was in a not-so-far-away region, but still they would take several hours of flight to reach the place. Archie had already prepared a few snacks that he kept in a backpack and Maxie had a huge map with the location of the mansion. It was Wednesday morning and all of their belongings had already been moved from the submarine to Shelly's living room. It was now or never, if they didn't find a place to stay until that night, they would have to resort to plan B: improvisation.</p><p class="western">Maxie was extremely nervous about all that. He hated to be unsure of the future, and the perspective of “improvising” made him very uncomfortable. Besides, he had spent the last five days calling countless house owners and looking for huge properties on the Internet, but no one had accepted their offer, leaving him not only very tired, but also pessimistic about their chances.</p><p class="western">Upon arriving in the new region, Maxie's first action was to rush to the nearest Pokémon Center and place their Crobats in the PC. It wasn't adequate for people on probation to walk around inter-regional territory with high-level Pokémon. They left the Pokécenter and Maxie grabbed his map.</p><p class="western">“OK...” said the red-haired man, “We should be pretty close to the house...”</p><p class="western">He rotated the map more of less 25 degrees to the right, then back to the left, then turned 180 degrees before putting the map down.</p><p class="western">“All right. According to my notes, the mansion should be two blocks from here in that direction.” he said, pointing to the left, “Let's go before it gets dark.”</p><p class="western">Soon they arrived at their destination. The mansion was much bigger than any house the two of them had seen before in their lives. Maxie swallowed hard, while Archie smiled, confident about their questionable plan.</p><p class="western">“All right...” said the former Magma Boss. “Let's ring the doorbell...”</p><p class="western">And so they did, more precisely, Archie did, since Maxie was shaking too much and felt like he would miss the button if he tried. After a few seconds waiting without any response, Archie rang the doorbell once more.</p><p class="western">“Archie!”</p><p class="western">“What? I think they didn't hear it...”</p><p class="western">“Don't keep ringing! You'll end up annoying them! We need to make a good first impression!” protested Maxie, but soon stopped speaking, as a loud, coarse voice yelled from inside the property.</p><p class="western">“What do you want?!” said the voice, and Maxie trembled even more.</p><p class="western">“Hello! Are you a millionaire?” yelled Archie, and Maxie covered his mouth right after.</p><p class="western">“Hello, sir!” he said, louder, trying to fix the situation, “Would you be so kind as to talk to us for a second? We would like to offer our services!”</p><p class="western">“Not interested!” yelled the voice back, and Maxie felt his whole body become suddenly cold.</p><p class="western">“But sir!” Replied Archie. “You don't even know what we are offering yet!”</p><p class="western">Through a window on the second floor, Archie saw a silhouette show up against the glass, stare at them for nearly a second and then walk away from the window once more.</p><p class="western">“Oh my Arceus...” said Maxie, his voice was so faint it was nearly inaudible. “It's over... He didn't answer... He's going to release the Houndooms to chase us out! Oh my Arceus, what are we going to do now...?”</p><p class="western">“Wait, honey...” replied Archie, and soon the automatic gate opened in front of them.</p><p class="western">“Come!” yelled the man on the inside, and the two obeyed. While Maxie was very timid, Archie seemed even more confident now. As they crossed the front-yard of the mansion, the automatic gate closed once again, and Maxie started to feel even more nervous. They arrived at the front door and the knob turned.</p><p class="western">An old green-haired man with a red visor covering his right eye opened the door and looked at them with apparent despise.</p><p class="western">“H-hello...” stuttered Maxie, timidly, “W-we're.... uh... We're here to offer you our services, kind gentleman! I-” but the man inside the house interrupted him.</p><p class="western">“You two. I know who you are...” Maxie swallowed hard while Archie stopped smiling for the first time since they left his cousin's house. “You two are those stupid Team Leaders from Hoenn... The ones who nearly caused the collapse of the whole planet's ecosystem...”</p><p class="western">“Y-yes, but...!” stuttered Maxie, nervously, but the man ignored him.</p><p class="western">“I've seen your faces in the newspaper. I'll let you two know that I am very well informed on what's happening in the crime scene all over the globe!”</p><p class="western">“We're trying to reinsert ourselves into society, sir!” replied Archie. “We're very sorry about the mess we caused!”</p><p class="western">“Silence!” yelled the old man, and the two visitors stepped back, startled. “I don't care about your excuses and whatever the heck you're trying to do! Let's talk business, since it's what you came here for. I suppose you came here looking for me, even though I can't possibly imagine how you could know about my location... Either way, you are here.”</p><p class="western">Maxie glanced at Archie looking for responses, for he didn't understand exactly what that man was talking about. He definitely had no idea who the house owner was, but his husband-to-be seemed even more lost than him. The old man kept talking.</p><p class="western">“You are most probably terrible criminals, once you've failed so spectacularly on your plans... But either way, you have organized huge criminal groups with obedient grunts... So you must have at least a little bit of competence... Well, I have to say I haven't been exactly active lately, but depending on what you have for me, I may consider it... What is your offer?” asked he green-haired man.</p><p class="western">“We can clean your house!” said Archie, proudly, and Ghetsis frowned in confusion.</p><p class="western">“Uh... L-let me explain, sir!” added Maxie, “As you know, we are criminals in rehab, and we want to start over with honest jobs! So we are here to offer our services to you on anything you may need! We can clean, cook, drive, take care of kids or any other task you might have for us! Anything you need, we're up to the task! And all we ask in return is a room in your mansion and a small payment in money so that we can survive!”</p><p class="western">For a few awkward seconds, the old man didn't reply, he just kept staring at the two former-criminals with a perplexed look on his face.</p><p class="western">“Wait...” said the man in the mansion slowly, “Do you two imbeciles even know who I am?” he asked, squinting his eyes. Maxie and Archie exchanged preoccupied looks before looking at the man again and slowly shaking their heads in denial. The mansion owner frowned, then immediately un-frowned and started looking around, thoughtful. So they had no idea who he was, he thought. Even though it was a little bit offensive, it was actually interesting that those men didn't have any idea of his criminal past. They wouldn't give him in to the police if they didn't know he was a criminal. Suddenly, everything made sense to him. Those two buffoons thought he was the owner of that mansion!</p><p class="western">The old man grinned discreetly and looked back at the couple, who was still standing awkwardly in front of him.</p><p class="western">“So you two want to stay in this mansion and, in exchange, you are willing to work for me, is that it?” he asked, and the two men nodded, “I see... And you don't want to do any dirty jobs, eh?”</p><p class="western">“Oh, no, don't worry! We can clean any dirt, sir!” said Archie, with a naive smile on his face. The old man took that as a confirmation for his question and scratched his chin, thinking about what to say to them.</p><p class="western">On one hand, the house was pretty dirty and he really could use some help... Giovanni had already gone back to his house in Kanto and would not come back within the next five months. He might as well accept those two idiots for the following months and then pretend to fire them a few days before Giovanni came back...But on the other hand, he didn't really want those two morons living with him... It was a difficult choice, and he was inclined to say no. Still, there was something he still needed to know before making up his mind.</p><p class="western">“Let me ask you one thing.” said the old man, “Do you know how to make waffles?”</p><p class="western">“Yes, of course!” said Maxie, “I can in fact cook a variety of dishes, so...”</p><p class="western">“Excellent!” exclaimed the green-haired man with an unexpected glow on his eyes, “Very well! That settles it!”</p><p class="western">Archie and Maxie exchanged glances, at the same time confused and excited, hesitating to believe that answer meant “yes”.</p><p class="western">“I'll let you two stay!” said the man, and Maxie's jaw dropped, “You two can live in this mansion with me for as long as you need, and in exchange you will make me waffles, clean the house and do whatever the heck I need you to do!”</p><p class="western">“Thank you so much, good sir!” begun to say Maxie, but the man kept speaking.</p><p class="western">“However!” he yelled, raising a finger in the air, “I will not pay you! This is my offer! You work for me and make me waffles, and in return, you two can live here and use all the house's services for free! But that is all! No extra cash!”</p><p class="western">The joy vanished from Archie and Maxie's faces and the two of them glanced once again at each other. They had to talk about that. Not having any payment was not in their plans... Still, they didn't have any time left and that opportunity might be the only one they would get.</p><p class="western">“What do you think?” asked Maxie, and Archie shrugged.</p><p class="western">“I don't know, honey... I mean, if we'll have access to the house services and food... We won't need a lot of money for ourselves...”</p><p class="western">“Yes, but we'll become completely dependent...”</p><p class="western">“But we can keep looking for something else while we're here... I can learn how to breed Pokémon professionally or something!</p><p class="western">“Well... I guess we can accept this as a temporary measure...”</p><p class="western">“We have to take the opportunity.”</p><p class="western">“Yes. OK.”</p><p class="western">The two men looked at the house owner with nervous smiles on their faces. They were glad to have found a place to stay, but still rather anxious about the future.</p><p class="western">“We have a deal!” said Maxie, extending his hand to the old man, who ignored it and turned his back to them.</p><p class="western">“Excellent!” he said, while going away. “You can refer to me as Lord Ghetsis from now on! Now go make me some waffles and take them to my room upstairs! The master room, right across the staircase. You two will have the guest room, to the right of the stairs.”</p><p class="western">“O-OK, Lord Ghetsis!” replied Maxie, obedient. “Uh... When can we bring our things in?”</p><p class="western">“Whenever you want! Just don't count on me to help with that!” yelled the man from the top of the stairs.</p><p class="western">As Maxie rushed to make his new boss some waffles, Archie decided to call his cousin Shelly and tell her about the good news. Within less than 20 minutes, his whole family, as well as most of the couple's friends, already knew about their success. Shelly, Matt, Tabitha, Courtney and even some of the former grunts offered to help transport their belongings from Hoenn to the new region, and in less than a week, everything the couple had was already inside their bedroom, which they were surprised to find out was actually pretty big.</p><p class="western">The downside, however, was Ghetsis. As the time passed, the two of them started to realize that the old man was not only impolite and cruel, but also seemed to be slightly senile at times. Still, the situation was much better than living in Captain Stern's submarine, and they thought it was better not to complain. The house was lovely, they lived well there and the city too was very nice. The region was one of the places they were allowed to go to on probation. Basically, everything was fine except for the grumpy house owner, and the couple decided it was worth putting up with him.</p><p class="western"> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Divorce</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">About two months had passed ever since Archie and Maxie had moved into what they believed to be Ghetsis' mansion. At that point, they had almost gotten used to the old man and his weird habits, as well as his poor manners. Still, the green-haired man wouldn't usually stay a lot near them, and spent a lot of time napping in his room, which gave them enough privacy and free time to enjoy their lives together, plan their wedding and, sometimes, specially on the days Ghetsis became particularly annoying, look for different job opportunities for the future.</p>
<p class="western">That day had fortunately not been one of those. Ghetsis was in what one might call a “good mood”, if compared to how he usually behaved, and Maxie had made a bunch of waffles, which had improved his temper even more. In fact, the three men were all in the living room at the same time during that sunny afternoon, something that had not happened before until then. Ghetsis was playing the grand piano while Maxie read a book and Archie played solitaire.</p>
<p class="western">Suddenly, to the surprise of all three men, they heard a voice coming from the backyard. It was a man's voice, and although neither Archie nor Maxie had heard it before in their lives, Ghetsis immediately recognized it and froze in front of the piano, unable to keep playing, with his eyes wide open.</p>
<p class="western">“Ghetsis?” called the voice, and the three men heard the sound of a key unlocking a door somewhere near. Most likely, the backdoor of the house. Archie and Maxie exchanged looks, they had no idea there was another person in this world who owned the mansion's keys. Maybe it was someone from Ghetsis' family... A son, or a younger brother... They didn't know. Maxie closed his book and stood up.</p>
<p class="western">“It seems like we have a visitor, Lord Ghetsis. Should I welcome him in?”</p>
<p class="western">“Uuh...” groaned Ghetsis, visibly confused, but before he could say anything else, the door leading to the corridor opened and a brown-haired man entered the living room.</p>
<p class="western">“Ghetsis, there's been a change of pl-” he began to say, but suddenly froze and remained standing near the door, completely quiet, staring at that small group of people in front of him.</p>
<p class="western">For nearly a minute, nobody said a word.</p>
<p class="western">“Uh... Welcome?” said Maxie, and Ghetsis immediately sprang to his feet.</p>
<p class="western">“Quiet, you idiotic Slowpoke!” he yelled at the red-haired man, then turned at his guest with a way less authoritarian expression and tone of voice, “Giovanni! How are you doing? I thought you wouldn't come back until November! What brings you here...?”</p>
<p class="western">Archie and Maxie stepped back, understanding it might be a good idea not to interfere, but stayed in the room, waiting for any orders from their boss.</p>
<p class="western">“Ghetsis!” exclaimed the visitor. “Explain this! What's going on?! Who are these people?!” he asked, pointing at Archie and Maxie. The couple got slightly startled and didn't know how to react.</p>
<p class="western">“Allow us to introduce ourselves, please!” said Maxie, but Ghetsis looked at them with a furious expression on his face.</p>
<p class="western">“I told you to be quiet!” he yelled, and Maxie stepped back again, but Giovanni interfered.</p>
<p class="western">“No! Please, introduce yourselves! I want to know what's going on here!” said the brown-haired one, visibly annoyed.</p>
<p class="western">Maxie timidly stepped forward again.</p>
<p class="western">“Uh... I am Maximus, and this is Archibald. We are Lord Ghetsis' servants here in the mansion. We cook, clean and help in any way he needs. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.”</p>
<p class="western">Giovanni remained quiet for a few moments.</p>
<p class="western">“Ghetsis' servants?!” he exclaimed, before turning violently in Ghetsis' direction, “since when do you have servants, Ghetsis?!”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, they came here offering their services and I accepted! Is it against the law?” replied the old man, crossing his arms.</p>
<p class="western">“And you didn't warn me?” asked Giovanni, “I mean, didn't you even consider asking my permission before bringing strangers into the mansion?!”</p>
<p class="western">Archie and Maxie exchanged glances again, thinking that man could only be a relative of their boss. However, as they were about to find out, he wasn't.</p>
<p class="western">“Bah! Why would I need your permission?! You think I don't know what I'm doing? These two are clearly harmless! Why should I not bring them into the house, eh?!”</p>
<p class="western">“Because the house is mine!” yelled the brown-haired man, and Archie's jaws dropped.</p>
<p class="western">“What?!” he exclaimed, and Maxie immediately covered his mouth.</p>
<p class="western">“Archie!” he complained.</p>
<p class="western">“Shut up, you two!” yelled Ghetsis.</p>
<p class="western">“No, don't shut up!” protested Giovanni, “Tell me! Why are you so surprised, eh?”</p>
<p class="western">Archie bit his lower lips and looked at his partner, then at his boss, and finally back at Giovanni. He didn't really know what to say. Lord Ghetsis was very angry and probably wanted him not to speak, but that Giovanni guy was sure scary as well. And Maxie... He didn't know what Maxie thought. On one hand, Maxie always said that they should be polite to guests, so he should answer the visitor. But Maxie also said that they should always obey Lord Ghetsis. But Lord Ghetsis wanted him not to answer the visitor... so what should he do? He felt his brain hurt and scratched his head. Maybe he should just answer. Just tell Giovanni that he thought the house belonged to Ghetsis. Why not? It's not like there was anything wrong with it. Yes, that's right! He should answer! Oh, but... wait... No, there was a reason not to answer, though, wasn't there? He didn't quite remember anymore. Why shouldn't he answer? Was there something he should be trying to hide? He looked at Lord Ghetsis. Oh, that's right! Lord Ghetsis had told him to be silent! That's why he shouldn't be speaking. Now everything was clear again. He shouldn't speak because Lord Ghetsis told him not to. But wait. Speak about what? Why was everyone looking at him again?</p>
<p class="western">“So?” asked Giovanni, while the man struggled with his decision.</p>
<p class="western">“Archie...?” whispered Maxie, now slightly worried.</p>
<p class="western">“Ugh, wait...” replied Archie, closing his eyes and frowning. “What was the question again?” he asked, turning to his partner.</p>
<p class="western">“Why are you surprised?!” repeated Giovanni, clenching his fists.</p>
<p class="western">“Surprised about what?” replied the Aqua Boss.</p>
<p class="western">“Bah! Whatever!” yelled Ghetsis, annoyed, “I'll explain it then! I told those two idiots that the mansion was mine! That's all!”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh!” exclaimed Archie, remembering why he was surprised to begin with.</p>
<p class="western">“And why did you do that?!” yelled Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Because I wanted them to make me waffles!” replied Ghetsis, and Giovanni hesitated in confusion before thinking about an appropriate reply.</p>
<p class="western">“Well, and what were you planning to do when I came back, eh? Tell them you sold the house to me?”</p>
<p class="western">“That would be a good idea actually...” said Ghetsis, scratching his chin, “But nah, I was just gonna kick them out.”</p>
<p class="western">“You were gonna do what?!” exclaimed Maxie.</p>
<p class="western">“Ugh! Never mind!” said Giovanni, “this whole mess is none of my business! I want the three of you out right now!”</p>
<p class="western">“Wait, no! Please!!!” screamed Archie, dropping down to his knees in front of Giovanni, “You can't kick us out, Mr. Giovanni Guy! What about our wedding?”</p>
<p class="western">“What wedding? What are you talking about? I don't even know you!” asked Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, what wedding?” added Ghetsis, crossing his arms.</p>
<p class="western">“Wait! Please!” interrupted Maxie, trying to remain calm. “Can I... C-could we just... Can I speak?”</p>
<p class="western">Archie stood up and Giovanni crossed his arms as well.</p>
<p class="western">“Right. What do you have to say?” asked the visitor, who happened to be the real owner of the mansion.</p>
<p class="western">“I... Well”, Maxie cleared his throat, “Me and Archie, we... We had no idea that this house was yours... I mean... Could you please explain exactly what is happening? Why is Ghetsis living here if this is not his house? And where were you in the last two months if you live here? And... And! And what on Earth is going on?!”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, I'll explain it from my point of view!” said Giovanni, “after the police started looking for Ghetsis...”, but Maxie interrupted him.</p>
<p class="western">“After what?!” he yelled.</p>
<p class="western">“What, you don't even know who he is?” asked Giovanni, “Where have you two been in the last decade, eh?”</p>
<p class="western">“Wait.” said Archie, “so Ghetsis is also a criminal?”</p>
<p class="western">For a few seconds, no one spoke.</p>
<p class="western">“Also?” asked Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Look,” said Maxie, “So you're telling us that... Ghetsis is not a millionaire. He's just a criminal on the run who was hiding in your huge mansion and fooled us into working for him. Is that it?”</p>
<p class="western">“Yes. Precisely.” said Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“And why was a criminal hiding in your house?” asked Archie.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, come on! Are you even from this planet?!” asked Ghetsis, “The man in front of you... Is Giovanni from Team Rocket!”</p>
<p class="western">Archie and Maxie remained in silence.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh... Right. Giovanni from Team Rocket... Of course, like... The Giovanni right? The one from Team Rocket!” said Archie, “Sure.”</p>
<p class="western">“You know this Team Rocket?” whispered Maxie.</p>
<p class="western">“Nah, but it seems like we should know him so I'm pretending to.”</p>
<p class="western">“He is the head of the Mafia!” yelled Ghetsis and both his former servants gasped, hugging each other. “What? Are you two not criminals as well? Why all this drama?” asked Ghetsis.</p>
<p class="western">“B-b-b-but!” replied Maxie, “we were supposed to be clean now! We can't live with other criminals, we're still on probation and w-we... We want to start over and...”</p>
<p class="western">“<em>Arceus mio</em>... What a bunch of idiots...” lamented Giovanni, ignoring the red-haired man and placing his hand on his forehead, “How did I get into this mess...?” he turned at the two scared men in front of him and for a second felt slightly bad for them. “So. What did you two do?”</p>
<p class="western">“W-what?” babbled Maxie.</p>
<p class="western">“What did you do? Ghetsis said you're criminals. What was the crime?”</p>
<p class="western">“We almost destroyed all life on Earth by awakening Groudon and Kyogre and bringing the ultimate chaos upon the land and humanity!” replied Archie, with a weirdly proud tone of voice.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh no!” exclaimed the brown-haired man, “No, really?! You two are those two morons from Hoenn?! Are you serious?”</p>
<p class="western">“Ouch.” said Maxie, now offended.</p>
<p class="western">“I didn't know you were involved in that mess as well, Ghetsis!” continued Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Me?! Of course not! I have nothing to do with them!” argued the green-haired man.</p>
<p class="western">“But you said they worked for you...”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh no, Mr. Giovanni!” said Archie, “We started working for him two months ago! As helpers here in the mansion!”</p>
<p class="western">“Helpers?” asked the brown-haired man.</p>
<p class="western">“Yes, sir!” said Maxie, hoping to turn that into an opportunity to promote themselves to the real mansion owner, “we can cook, we can clean... We can... Uh... We can take care of children or Pokémon, and... Uh. Anything you need us to do!”</p>
<p class="western">“Right...” said Giovanni, “So you two went from evil organization leaders to basically man-maids? How deplorable...”</p>
<p class="western">Maxie blushed a bit and Archie scratched his head, “What's wrong with maids?” he asked his partner discreetly.</p>
<p class="western">“I'm starting to finally get what happened here...” said Giovanni, “You two have nothing to do with Ghetsis and Ghetsis has nothing to do with you either. The only thing keeping all of you three together is this mansion, which you thought belonged to Ghetsis, but is in fact mine. And so, that destroys the only connection you three had! That means now you don't owe Ghetsis anything anymore! You can thank me later. Now leave, I've had enough of this travesty here!”</p>
<p class="western">“Thank you?!” exclaimed Maxie, “Why should we thank you? We just lost our only job and... well... Not that Ghetsis paid us anything b-but... But where are we going to live?!”</p>
<p class="western">At that moment, Giovanni widened his eyes and finally stopped frowning for a second.</p>
<p class="western">“Wait... You two...” he said, and then suddenly frowned again, now even harder than before “...are living here?!”, he then turned at Ghetsis, “They are living here?! You allowed those idiots to live in my house?!”</p>
<p class="western">“Of course! You only got it now?! You thought they just came here everyday to cook me some waffles and leave?!”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, yes, obviously! That's how employees work! You idiot!” answered the Mafia boss, red as a pepper, “I can't believe I let you stay here for 6 months and you're already acting like you own the place! Ghetsis, I... If I had the energy to, I'd beat you up with my own fists right here and now!”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, yeah?! Wanna fight, Giovanni?!” threatened the old man, getting into attack mode and spitting on the carpet, then shaking his fists in front of the other man.</p>
<p class="western">“Guys, please!”, interfered Archie, “Let's not start a fight! There's no need for this! We're all friends here!”</p>
<p class="western">“We are<em> not</em> friends here!” said Giovanni, pushing Ghetsis with one of his hands and dropping the old man to the ground without effort, “You two are complete strangers and Ghetsis is just a guy I know! I don't even like him!”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, I don't like you either!” replied the old man, trying to stand up.</p>
<p class="western">“Then leave!” said Giovanni, “I need the house, so you can't stay any longer!”, he turned at Archie and Maxie, “and the two of you, I'm very sorry to burst your bubble, but you'll have to find another place to live! Good luck!”</p>
<p class="western">“B-but... Sir, be reasonable, please!” begged the Magma Leader, “Give us at least one or two weeks... We don't have anywhere to go!”</p>
<p class="western">“Yes, Giovanni!” continued Archie, “if we go back to the submarine, Captain Stern will be really mad...”</p>
<p class="western">“We don't know anyone in this region... And we're out of money! We're helpless... If you could please just give us a few days... Please...” continued Maxie, now shaking a little bit.</p>
<p class="western">Giovanni turned his back at them and sighed. He was trying to convince himself to just yell a big “no” to their faces and threaten to call the police. On the other hand, he was tired and in a very bad mood, he already felt pretty bad about his personal problems and didn't want to deal with even more trouble. Kicking those two men out would give him a headache for sure. And they were right... It was unreasonable to expect them to just leave on the same day without having a place to go to. Also, it had not been their fault they thought Ghetsis owned that place. Yes, the whole thing was Ghetsis' fault! He glanced back at the two strangers... they were dumb, that was a fact. Really dumb. But that aside, they didn't seem too bad after all. At least not compared to Ghetsis... Maybe he could even use a bit of help from those guys on the first days alone at the mansion, since he wouldn't have Ariana around anymore... Or Silver... Actually, when he left his house on that morning, he was expecting to be completely alone for the following months or even years... so the prospect of having a bit of company for the next few days was actually pleasant. He didn't really like the idea of being all alone in a big house after all... He sighed again, and wished he had the patience to think more about that before making a decision. Unfortunately, his patience was dangerously near 0% and he wanted to end that topic as soon as possible. Allowing them a bit of time seemed like the easier path.</p>
<p class="western">“OK.” said Giovanni, turning around again and facing the two men, “I'll give you some time to move out.” As he said that, Archie and Maxie's faces immediately brightened up and they exchanged excited looks. “You have two weeks to move out.” concluded Giovanni, and for some reason that made him feel lighter, as if he had just moved a huge boulder out of his way.</p>
<p class="western">“Thank you so much, sir!” said Maxie, shaking his hand.</p>
<p class="western">“You are very nice, Mr. Giovanni!” said Archie, tapping his shoulder as if they were long-time friends.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, right...” replied the man, dismissing the two of them, “No need to thank me, it's not your fault that Ghetsis is a liar after all... Now go look for a place to stay, because you don't have much time!”</p>
<p class="western">The two men thanked him again and went upstairs to their room, while Giovanni stayed in the living room with Ghetsis.</p>
<p class="western">“Well, good to know everything is back in place.” said the green-haired man, “Now let me go back to the piano...”</p>
<p class="western">“What the heck are you talking about, Ghetsis! Get out of my house!”</p>
<p class="western">“What?!”, exclaimed the old man, enraged, “You just gave us all two weeks, you moron! Did you already forget?! Are you senile or what?!”</p>
<p class="western">“I gave the two Hoenn idiots two weeks, not you! Because they have nowhere to go! You do! So leave!”</p>
<p class="western">“What are you talking about?! I don't have any place to go either, you lunatic! I'm lost! And the police is after me! And I'm an old citizen! Have you no respect for the elderly, eh?!” argued Ghetsis, completely outraged, as if he were a victim of the circumstances.</p>
<p class="western">“Go live with your son! Or go to jail if you'd rather! Or go to a nursing home, since you're so old! I don't care! You're not staying here!”</p>
<p class="western">“You traitor!” screamed Ghetsis, and he screamed so loud that even the Pidgeys in the square were startled and flew off in fear. But that was not all! Surprisingly, the man kept yelling even more after that. “How dare you turn your back on a loyal work-mate who served you so well in the past?! You had granted me six months here! How can you show up and tell me to leave without warning, eh?! And you dare to think you're reasonable?! Civilized?! You are a deranged beast, that's what you are!”</p>
<p class="western">“Agh, shut up!” said the other man, covering his ears and closing his eyes, “The cops in Unova are going to hear you from here if you keep screaming like that, you imbecile!”</p>
<p class="western">But Ghetsis didn't stop. He kept on babbling about his old age, about Giovanni's betrayal, then about his son and a man named Colress of whom Giovanni had never heard before, and so on. Giovanni kept covering his ears, but it wasn't enough to muffle the old man's roars, and his patience finally hit the bottom.</p>
<p class="western">“OK! OK!” he replied, trying to scream even louder than his dear loyal work-mate, “You can stay a bit longer! Just shut the heck up, for Arceus sake! I have a headache!”</p>
<p class="western">As if by magic, Ghetsis stopped yelling and a malicious grin formed on his face, followed by an disproportional evil laughter.</p>
<p class="western">“Yes!” he yelled, thankfully not as loud this time, “Yes! Victory!” he laughed, “I knew you would end up giving in, Giovanni! I knew you would have to listen to reason in the end!”</p>
<p class="western">“Quite the opposite, Ghetsis! I couldn't hear reason, so loud you were screaming! And I will regret it later for sure... But whatever! Stay for two more weeks then! I don't care anymore! I just want to rest now, so I'm going upstairs!”</p>
<p class="western">While the mansion's real owner tiredly climbed up the stairs, feeling a bitter taste of defeat, Ghetsis sat back at the piano and started playing a bit of Stravinsky. He was so glad that, for a while, he actually forgot he had taken over Giovanni's master bedroom for himself, ignoring Rocket Leader's explicit orders, and given Archie and Maxie the guest room in which he should be sleeping. But of course, that while didn't last much longer, since Giovanni's voice, roaring from his room upstairs, was responsible for immediately reminding Ghetsis of that problem, even though he couldn't understand the meaning of Giovanni's words.</p>
<p class="western">“<em>Ma che porca miseria, Ghetsis!</em>” were those words.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">It was around seven o'clock in the evening when Lillie stepped back into Alolan soil. The sun was setting and most of the bird Pokémon were flying back to their nests. The blonde girl walked for a few minutes following the long path between Melemele Harbor and Professor Kukui's house. Hau, Elio and Gladion had promised to meet with her at the beach in front of the professor's house and should be waiting there already.</p><p class="western">“Uhm... No...” she thought, “Gladion is there already, most probably, but Hau will take a while. At least that's what I think. He's not that punctual... And Elio... Oh, well, Elio is pretty unpredictable.”</p><p class="western">The girl was right. Her older brother was indeed waiting at the beach, with his arms crossed, staring at the sea, but he was alone, for Hau hadn't arrived yet, and neither had her other friend.</p><p class="western">“Hi, Gladion!” she said, approaching her brother.</p><p class="western">“Oh...” replied the teenager, “You have arrived. How was your trip?”</p><p class="western">“Well... The trip was good. Hm...” she hesitated, “I should wait for Hau and Elio before telling you anything.”</p><p class="western">“Something tells me it's not good news...” said the boy, and Lillie shook her head,</p><p class="western">“I could tell you not to be so pessimistic, but it would be naive of me. It's really not good news, so why pretend, right? But I don't want to tell you everything now just to have to repeat it later. So tell me about what happened while I was away!”</p><p class="western">“Not much...” said the boy, looking away and shaking his shoulders, “Aether has been a mess. But I got to make a few changes on stuff back there. Wicke is the new branch chief, because I can't stand Faba, so I demoted him.”</p><p class="western">“Oh... Wasn't that a bit mean?”</p><p class="western">“I don't care. Anyway, Wicke is doing a great job, that has to be said. But the place is no good without a president to run it... I'm just 13. I can't run a corporation, and they should know. So basically Wicke is taking care of the most important things. They just pretend I'm in charge, but when it comes to hard decisions, I leave it to her. Of course, officially, Lusamine is still the president... But she's completely absent now, so it's nearly an anarchy at this point. If we don't do something about this, I wouldn't be surprised to see the whole Aether Paradise sink into the sea within a year or two.”</p><p class="western">“Oh!” gasped Lillie, “Don't say such a horrible thing! Lots of Pokémon are living there! If things are really that bad, then... We have to do something, right?”</p><p class="western">“Don't worry. I've been thinking about all this. I want Wicke to take over officially while Lusamine is away. That is... Unless you have found the cure for mother's issue...?”</p><p class="western">“I just told you I didn't want to talk about it before our friends got here...”</p><p class="western">“OK, OK. Either way, I doubt that this cure would happen instantly, so we're gonna need a substitute president for at least a few months or whatever it takes until our mother is healthy again. This is why I want to convince mother to name Wicke our temporary president during her recovery.”</p><p class="western">“Don't you have the power to do that on your own?”</p><p class="western">“I'm not in charge as in “I'm the boss”, I'm just representing Lusamine, from the bureaucratic point of view. Just a voice between her and the rest of the Aether... In practical terms, I'm taking decisions, such as demoting Faba and giving Wicke a promotion, or terminating the secret research in the lower levels... And acting as if those decisions were the wish of Lusamine. Basically only Wicke and I know that I'm the one behind those things.”</p><p class="western">For a few seconds, Lillie was silent.</p><p class="western">“How's mother doing?” she asked, and Gladion grinned a little bit.</p><p class="western">“I knew you'd ask that.”</p><p class="western">“Well, of course I would! Wouldn't you, in my place?”</p><p class="western">He looked away, “Yeah, I guess... Anyway, she's a lot better than when you left, in terms of behavior... But, well... I don't think the toxin thing is getting any better...”</p><p class="western">“Oh?”</p><p class="western">“I mean, she's behaving better as in... not treating others like trash, she's calmer, not so violent... Actually a lot less violent than before. But she's still talking all the time about that beast... And she's been talking a lot of gibberish.”</p><p class="western">“So... She's still intoxicated and the toxin is still making her act weird... But it's a different kind of weird. Is that it?”</p><p class="western">“Yeah, that's pretty accurate.”</p><p class="western">“I wonder if it's going to be better or worse than what happened before... I mean. I don't think it can get much worse, but...”</p><p class="western">“Lillie!” called a familiar voice from behind them. The two siblings turned their heads and saw Hau coming running at them, waving his hand as he approached. “Hey! Hey Lillie! Gladion!”</p><p class="western">“Hi, Hau!” said the girl, but the boy merely nodded.</p><p class="western">“Lillie! It's been so long! I missed you! What's Kanto like? Did you have fun there? Did you see any different Pokémon?”</p><p class="western">“One question at a time, Hau, or she won't be able to answer...” said the other boy.</p><p class="western">“Oh, also!” said Hau, paying no attention to Gladion, “Elio said he won't be able to come... His father arrived from Sinnoh earlier than expected, so they are going out to celebrate. But I'll tell him everything when I see him again tomorrow, so don't worry!”</p><p class="western">“Oh... That's a pity. I mean, it's good that his father is finally here! But I'm sad to know Elio's not coming.” replied the girl. “But at least you came, Hau! How are you doing?”</p><p class="western">“Great!”</p><p class="western">“Good, so let's talk about what's important,” said Gladion, “tell us about your trip, Lillie.”</p><p class="western">The girl nodded.</p><p class="western">“Well, I got to find Bill... Uh... It was a bit weird actually...” she explained, “When I entered his house, there was no one there but a Machoke... But then I found out the Machoke was actually Bill himself!”</p><p class="western">“Whaa-?” exclaimed Hau, “Bill is a Machoke?”</p><p class="western">“No, no...” answered Lillie, “but he had transformed into one with his machine.”</p><p class="western">“What the heck...?” said Gladion, frowning, “but what about our mother? What did he say? We don't need to turn her into a Machoke, so...”</p><p class="western">“Yes, I'm getting there” continued the girl, “he transformed back into a human being, and he was really nice to me! We talked for a long time about mother's situation, but... In the end...”</p><p class="western">“Oh...” Hau stopped smiling.</p><p class="western">“Yeah,” said Lillie, “it was pretty much inconclusive. He doesn't know of a way to actually fix her, and I'm not sure if anyone else does... So for now, there's really nothing we can do.”</p><p class="western">Gladion sighed and looked down.</p><p class="western">“I'm sorry to hear that...” said Hau, “but well, I'm sure at some point someone will know what to do, right?”</p><p class="western">“Right!” replied Lillie, “Specially because this is my new goal! I'm going to find out how to cure mother! It's gonna take a while, but... I'll do it!”</p><p class="western">She smiled and so did Hau. Gladion was slightly surprised, but his reaction didn't show it.</p><p class="western">“How are you planning to do that?”</p><p class="western">“Studying and doing research! I'm going to become a Pokémon Professor. And I'm going to study Nihilego's toxin and find a cure to mother's problem! As I said, it will take a long time... But I'll keep trying!”</p><p class="western">“Yeah! That's the spirit!” said Hau, excitedly.</p><p class="western">“Well... That's a long-term solution, in theory...” said Gladion, “I believe you can do this, Lillie. But still, we need to talk about the problem at hand. Mother is still acting weird, Aether is still a chaos and we're still pretty much by ourselves. Even though mother is still living with us at the Paradise, she's becoming less functional... And we're still children. Specially you, Lillie.”</p><p class="western">“Right...” she replied.</p><p class="western">“Wait, if you need somewhere to go, I can help! Do you wanna come live with me?” asked Hau.</p><p class="western">“Thanks, but no. That's not quite the solution we're looking for.” said Gladion, barely looking at him, “We have a place to stay, we just don't have a functional responsible adult around. And I'm seriously sick of hanging around in hotels...”</p><p class="western">“What about Wicke?” asked Lillie.</p><p class="western">“Wicke is great, but she's busy with the Aether. We've been discussing something else, Wicke and I...”</p><p class="western">“What?” asked both the girl and the other boy.</p><p class="western">“Grandpa.” replied Gladion, “Do you remember our grandfather, Lillie? We used to visit him all the time when we were small. I was around four, but you were just a toddler, so maybe you won't even remember...” the girl shook her head and he continued, “yeah, I figured... Still, he's our father's father...”</p><p class="western">“Our... father?” asked Lillie, and Hau stepped back, slightly surprised.</p><p class="western">“Wait!!! You have a father?” asked the boy.</p><p class="western">“Of course we have a father, where do you think we came from?” asked Gladion, grumpily, to which both his sister and their friend replied with 'what?'. “Forget it...” continued the boy, “I suppose you don't remember our father either, right, Lillie?”</p><p class="western">The girl shook her head again. “No... Only from some old pictures, but... Nothing about who he was...”</p><p class="western">“After dad vanished, we stopped visiting our grandpa. Lusamine never spoke about any of that again, and I'm pretty sure she thinks none of us remember Mohn or his father... But I do. I remember very little things... But it was enough for me to convince Wicke to talk about it.”</p><p class="western">“Wait, your father's name is 'Mohn'? Like, in Poké-<em>mon</em>?” asked Hau.</p><p class="western">“Hau, sincerely, I don't think you could have made a more pointless remark in these circumstances...” replied the older boy, placing his hand on his forehead. “Anyway. Yes. His name was Mohn. I don't think he's still alive right now, though. If he is, then Arceus knows where he ended up. All of that is irrelevant, what matters is our grandfather. I spoke to Wicke and we got in contact with him... I think we...” the boy swallowed hard, “I think we should move in with him.”</p><p class="western">“Live... With him?” asked Lillie, “I don't even remember him... Do you think he would let us?”</p><p class="western">“Of course!” said Gladion, and for the first time since the girl arrived, he smiled, “you don't remember him, Lillie... He's a really nice person. And, well... I've talked to him while you were away. He misses us...”</p><p class="western">“Wow...” she said.</p><p class="western">“After dad vanished, things got pretty tough for him as well. He lost his son, after all... And then Lusamine decided to hide from the world and stop seeing anyone outside of Aether... And he ended up losing us as well, so he was all alone.”</p><p class="western">“I feel bad for him...” said Lillie, “even though I don't even remember him, no one deserves to be left behind all alone like that...”</p><p class="western">“Yeah, that's pretty sad...” agreed Hau.</p><p class="western">“Yes”, continued Gladion, “So it would be good for all of us if we were to live with him. He'd get to see us again and have a family around again, and we would be able to finally relax and live as kids again, at least for a while... Because I don't know about you, but I sure need some vacations from the independent life...”</p><p class="western">“Well, I was just getting started with it!” said Lillie, “but I guess it's not a bad idea... Where does he live?”</p><p class="western">“Outside of Alola, in a far away Region. I don't really remember the name now, but I'll tell you later on. Either way, we'd have to move away from here and leave Aether in Wicke's hands for a few years. If you're willing to do that, then that's my plan...”</p><p class="western">“Wait, no!” said Hau, “You mean you're going away?! But Lillie has just arrived! And what about Alola?! The best place on Earth to live! And what about me and Elio?! We are friends!”</p><p class="western">“We'll keep in touch with you and other people here,” explained the older boy, “and we can visit Alola every now and then. In fact, we should, so that we can see how Aether is going. So even though we'll be far away, Alola will still be part of our lives...”</p><p class="western">“This is a tough decision...” replied the girl. “And what about mother, Gladion? I mean... We can't just leave her behind! I mean... N-not again... Not for so long...”</p><p class="western">“And we won't.” replied the boy. “Lusamine is going with us, getting out of Alola will be good for her. She needs a change of environment.”</p><p class="western">“So she'll live with us?”</p><p class="western">“No.” said Gladion, “I thought of something different.”</p><p class="western">“Man, this whole thing is so complicated...” complained Hau, who was now feeling down because his friends might go away.</p><p class="western">“What did you think of...?” asked the girl.</p><p class="western">“I'm not sure if you'll like it, but... I think mother needs some professional help for now. And by that I mean... I think she has to be put in a hospital.”</p><p class="western">“A hospital? But, Gladion! Not even Bill knows how to cure her, so a hospital won't know either!”</p><p class="western">“Yes, you're right. But I'm not talking about curing her. After all, you're the one who's gonna do it, isn't that right?” hearing that, the girl blushed a bit and smiled, he continued “But mother is getting weirder and weirder, and she's been acting, well... crazy. I was avoiding that word but, yeah. She's pretty much going crazy. So when I talk about a hospital, I don't mean a normal hospital. I mean a psychiatric hospital. To treat her symptoms while we don't have a cure for her.”</p><p class="western">“You wanna put your mom in a madhouse?!” yelled Hau.</p><p class="western">“Hau!” complained the girl.</p><p class="western">“A hospital is not a madhouse, Hau, but I guess you've got more or less the idea...” replied the other boy.</p><p class="western">“Gladion!” complained Lillie again. “Oh, boy... Are you serious about this? Do you really think mother's situation is that bad?”</p><p class="western">“Wanna see for yourself?” asked the brother.</p><p class="western"> </p><p class="western">“Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Flight number 793-N taking off right now, heading to Neptune!” said Lusamine, sitting on her bed in the Aether Paradise while shaking a stick in the air. “Oh, but mister pilot! Look at those clouds! They are made of coffee and caramel crystals! We need to open the windows!”</p><p class="western">Hau placed both his hands on the nape of his head before saying his verdict out loud. “Yup! She's cuckoo! Madhouse it is!”</p><p class="western">“Mother...” said Lillie, approaching her, “Are you feeling OK?”</p><p class="western">“Oh, hello Lillie-billy! How are you doing? Did you have fun at the supermarket? I bought you a new hat on my trip to Neptune, do you wanna see it?” replied the mother, smiling.</p><p class="western">“Uh...” hesitated the girl, “Thank you, mother, but not now, I...”</p><p class="western">Suddenly, the mother dropped her stick and clenched her fists, frowning.</p><p class="western">“Are you rejecting my love?!” she said, with a threatening voice, and at the other side of the room, Hau stepped back in fear.</p><p class="western">“Her mood is still fluctuating a lot, sometimes the old obsessions re-emerge...” said Gladion, stepping forward. “Of course not, mother” he told the woman, “Lillie just thinks Nihilego would look better in that hat than her. Don't you think it should try it first?”</p><p class="western">“Oh!” said Lusamine, immediately brightening up and smiling again, “you're right, Lillie! That's a great idea! Your little sibling Nihilego will love this hat!”</p><p class="western">“S-sibling...?” whispered Lillie, and Gladion shrugged.</p><p class="western">“Oh, by the way, Gladion, have you seen the babies in my precious collection? I can't find them lately...”</p><p class="western">“Sure, mother. They went on a trip to Kalos with their uncle.” said Gladion, and then whispered to his sister. “The specimen from her collection were all released, as well as her usual Pokémon party. She's currently out of Pokémon. We thought it would be better this way.”</p><p class="western">“Oh, I do hope they have lots of fun there!” said Lusamine, giggling. “I only wish I could have dressed them beautifully for their trip first! With big white hats... And maybe pink ribbons!”</p><p class="western">“Pink ribbons? This is new...” said Hau.</p><p class="western">“Indeed. Even though she's still clearly obsessed with that beast Nihilego, her interests seem to be developing into more random subjects. Last week she spent nearly five hours talking about mustard, for some reason.”</p><p class="western">“I see... But how do you plan to convince her to go to the psychiatric hospital, Gladion?” asked the sister.</p><p class="western">“That's the easiest part. We just gotta tell her it's an adventure to a haunted house or something... Also Wicke made a Nihilego plush for her, so we can distract her with it for long periods of time.”</p><p class="western">“I see...”</p><p class="western">“So, are you convinced now?” asked Gladion.</p><p class="western">“I guess... She does seem to need some help...” replied the girl, looking away. “It's sad, though. I wish we could do something on our own!”</p><p class="western">“We can't solve everything by ourselves. I learned that the hard way. This time, let's try to do things more rationally. We'll take her with us and put her in the Regional Psychiatric Hospital. They will take good care of her and we will visit her every day... All we need to do is convince her to name Wicke the substitute president, but I think we can do that.”</p><p class="western">“If you think so...” said Lillie.</p><p class="western">“You agree then?” asked Gladion, “I'm not giving orders. It's a decision we should take together... I know I've abandoned you before to save Null, but this time is different. I'm not sending her to the hospital without your consent... You've been with her longer than I have.”</p><p class="western">Lillie thought for a few seconds while observing her mother play with several random objects across the room, babbling about all kinds of nonsense. Somehow, she looked a lot like a child playing games by herself. At some random moments, she would start laughing for no reason or get angry at nothing, look around as if looking for something and even hug herself in confusion, but shortly after, she'd go back smiling and playing alone, and even invited Hau to play with her at some point.</p><p class="western">“OK...” said the girl, finally. “I wouldn't really know how to deal with her right now... I guess we do need some help!” She shook her brother's hand firmly, “I agree! Let's do that!”</p><p class="western">“Great!” replied the boy. “I'll inform Wicke. We're gonna talk to Lusamine later tonight. Hopefully, if everything goes right, we'll be leaving Alola before the weekend.”</p><p class="western">“Aw man...” exclaimed Hau, disappointed. “So soon?! I'm gonna miss you guys...”</p><p class="western">“Hau, you barely know me.” added Gladion.</p><p class="western">“But I wish I had known you better!” he replied, and Gladion almost blushed for a second, before turning his head to the other side and acting edgier than normal.</p><p class="western">“I'm gonna miss you too, Hau... But I promise I'll come visit you and Elio! And once mother is cured, we're going to come back here!”</p><p class="western">It wasn't difficult to convince Lusamine to go. Wicke and Gladion talked to her about the amazing trip she and Nihilego would take to another planet, in which she would get to know several aliens and Pokémon she could love. After the president agreed to going, it was merely logical to suggest she should name someone to stay in her place as the head of the Aether Foundation. By the end of the day, Wicke was the new president, and both Gladion and Lillie were packing up their belongings. Their grandfather had already been informed of the plans and was excited about seeing all of them again, and even though neither Hau nor Elio were happy about their departure, they made sure to remain positive and make their farewell a good one.</p><p class="western">Three days later, mother and children arrived at the new unknown region. Lusamine was excited about everything, even though she didn't seem to understand most of what was going on. Her humor seemed to be fluctuating less than before, and tended to be positive and childish most of the time now, which was good for the kids. Upon seeing her husband's father, Lusamine didn't recognize him, and introduced herself as “Queen of Ultra-paradise-land”. After having lunch at the old man's house and saying goodbye to her children, the woman was taken to the hospital in which she was bound to live for the next few months, possibly years, even though she didn't seem to suspect a thing about the real purpose of that trip, and saw it all as some sort of fun game.</p><p class="western">“Well. Is that all?” asked Gladion to the doctor, while both he and Lillie watched their mother go to her room, accompanied by a nurse.</p><p class="western">“Yes, she'll be fine here. Don't worry!” replied the doctor happily, and proceeded to give the kids all information about visitation times and how the hospital worked. Still, Gladion had the feeling that the doctor was more positive about their mother than he should be. He repeated several times that Lusamine wasn't really that bad, and that they had seen much worse cases before, so the children didn't have to worry, but Gladion wasn't convinced. The doctor had seen just her bright side, and if her mood shifted to 'evil-mode' again, Arceus knows how the doctors would handle... Still, this is why they had gone after professional help. The doctors knew what to do, he thought, and tried to relax.</p><p class="western">Around three hours after the kids had left, Lusamine was in her room with her Nihilego plush, sitting in her bed all alone. Her room was of medium to high security, with surveillance cameras on two of the corners and a nurse monitoring the hallway outside. The door had a simple lock and there were grids on the window. That aside, it was a very comfortable room, with lots of space, well lit, tidy and clean... It was like a good hotel room.</p><p class="western">“This spaceship sure has a lot of cool things, doesn't it, Nihi?” said the woman, looking at her plush. “Yes, that's true.” she replied to herself. “Still, I don't like being stuck here... We're not stuck... We're on an adventure... Yes. But I wanted to explore more! I don't want to sleep yet. I want to see the outside... I want to see it too... I think we should go look for a shiny Petilil for our collection, what do you say? I like that. You know that the room is locked, though, right? I know. But we can manage to get out. I know we can. I know you can, my precious Nihilego... You can do anything! Let's get out of this place and look for a better one. We could go back to the old man's house with Lillie and Gladion! No, Lillie and Gladion will want to get us back in here... We need to find some place safe... Like a game of hide and seek? Yes, like a game of hide and seek. OK! So let's find somewhere to hide! Oh, there's a place! I know where we should go! It's a very big house and it's good for hiding. No one will recognize us there and Lillie and Gladion won't be able to find us! Oh, really, Nihi!? Tell me more about it! Well, you don't know anyone there, but they will end up letting you stay if we go there. Wow... How do you know that, Nihi? I just do. Trust me. OK! So let's go? Of course, Nihi! If you say it's a safe place, then I believe you! Let's go!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Runaway</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">It had been five weeks since Giovanni had come back to his mansion. Maxie and Archie hadn't yet found another job or a better place to stay, but every time they talked to Giovanni about it, he would casually tell them to stay for another week. In return for his hospitality, the couple would help with several tasks in the house, and Maxie was now responsible for cooking all the meals. Giovanni, who really liked Maxie's food, was actually glad to have someone helping him with it, since he himself didn't know how to cook. In the end, he was actually getting used to having Archie and Maxie around, and was beginning to appreciate their company, even though the Aqua Leader often caused more harm than good.</p><p class="western">On the other hand, Ghetsis, who was also still living in the house and refused to leave or even look for a better place to stay, bothered Giovanni a lot. Still, every time the Rocket Leader tried to kick him out, he would throw a major tantrum, which would without fail lead to Giovanni telling him he could stay for another week as long as he shut up.</p><p class="western">As a result, the four men had been living together in relative harmony for more than a month now. Giovanni had re-claimed the master bedroom to himself, but since Archie and Maxie were staying in the guest room, he had to give Ghetsis another room. He chose a room which was meant to become a gym, but refused to buy Ghetsis a bed or any other piece of furniture, so the old man was sleeping on a mattress on the floor.</p><p class="western">Of course, deep inside, Ghetsis had no plans of leaving that place so soon. His intentions were to remain in the house for as long as possible, and he was curious to find out when Giovanni would finally leave and go back to his other house. However, every time he tried to ask the Rocket Leader about his plans, Giovanni would change the topic. It was weird that Giovanni had come without his family, and hadn't mentioned his wife or son not even once yet, but Ghetsis still believed he would go back to Viridian at some point. And when that moment came, he would promptly go back to the master bedroom.</p><p class="western">“Giovanni?” called Maxie, from the hallway. The Rocket Leader opened the door of his room and Maxie noticed his eyes seemed slightly reddish. Could it be that he had been crying? No, no. Probably not. He might not even know Giovanni that well, but from what he had seen of him, it was impossible to imagine he would cry. “The dinner is ready.” said the Magma Boss.</p><p class="western">“Oh. Good. Good...” said Giovanni, then sniffed and looked away, discreetly rubbing his right eye. “Thanks, Maxie. I'll be down there in a second.”</p><p class="western">“All right...” replied the other man, and then headed to Ghetsis' room. Before knocking on the door, he sighed. “Ghetsis?”</p><p class="western">“What do you want?!” yelled the old man.</p><p class="western">“Dinner.” replied Maxie, annoyed, and left without waiting for his answer. To think he had treated that old hag as a respectful master and even called him “lord” for nearly two months... But it didn't matter anymore. He had nothing to do with Ghetsis now and was free to treat him like he deserved to be treated.</p><p class="western">After a few minutes, Maxie, Archie and Ghetsis were sitting by the table in the dining room. The three men were silent, and while Archie and Maxie were waiting for the house owner to arrive before starting to eat, Ghetsis was already devouring his food.</p><p class="western">“I'm here, sorry” said Giovanni, entering the dining room, “I was taking care of something...”</p><p class="western">“Something or someone?” asked Ghetsis, without swallowing his food first, “If it's Grimsley again, I can't help you this time!”</p><p class="western">Archie and Maxie exchanged glances, perhaps it was better not to understand.</p><p class="western">“No, no... Not this kind of thing. Just some legal stuff...” the man sighed, “Now I've got this stupid headache...”</p><p class="western">“You look pretty tired, Giovanni. Perhaps you should rest after dinner...” said Maxie.</p><p class="western">“Yes, Giovanni! We'll take care of stuff! Wash the dishes and keep everything in the right place and so on!” added Archie.</p><p class="western">“Thanks... I guess I'll try to rest a little.” replied the Rocket Leader, “I've been in need of some rest...”</p><p class="western">“If you need to rest that much, why don't you go home, eh?” asked Ghetsis.</p><p class="western">“I am at home!” replied the brown-haired man, looking away.</p><p class="western">“No, you Slowpoke! I meant your other house, with your wife and that brat!”</p><p class="western">“Oh!” said Archie, “I didn't know you had a child, Giovanni!”</p><p class="western">“I didn't know you had another house...” said Maxie, “I thought <em>this</em> was your house...”</p><p class="western">“This <em>is</em> my house!” said Giovanni, now slightly annoyed, and started eating faster. There was a moment of silence.</p><p class="western">“This is where Giovanni comes when he travels to this region...” said Ghetsis, noticing the man wouldn't explain anything else, “But he lives in Kanto! In Viridian... Isn't that right, Giovanni?”</p><p class="western">But the man didn't answer. He merely frowned and ate a bit faster. Maxie glanced at Archie with a worried expression, but Archie was simply smiling, unaffected by the tension.</p><p class="western">“By the way, Giovanni!” said Ghetsis, crazy to find out when he would have the opportunity to steal the master bedroom again, “When are you going back to Kanto, eh? Just out of curiosity, I mean... Shouldn't take much longer if you chose not to bring your family!”</p><p class="western">The man remained silent, and Ghetsis continued.</p><p class="western">“I don't even know why you came here to begin with...” he said, “It's not like you're doing anything here! Sure, you spend a lot of time in your office, but doesn't look like something you have to be here in order to do, so...”</p><p class="western">“Ghetsis!” said Giovanni, putting his fork down with a bit more strength than necessary, “Since you're talking about going back and forth to other places, may I ask you when you're going to leave? And why in the name of Arceus you haven't done it yet?!”</p><p class="western">“What?! Again with this?!” the old man started yelling, “What kind of maniac are you, Giovanni?! All I did was ask you a simple question and suddenly you want to kick me out of my only home in the middle of dinner?! Is that right to you!? Well, this is simply savage! Barbaric! Absurd!”</p><p class="western">“Ugh! Why do you have to distort everything like that, eh?!” answered the Rocket Leader, angry, “You shouldn't even be here by now! I told you to leave on the first day and here you are! You know what? I shouldn't have let you stay here at all to begin with! You... You!” he clenched his fists “<em>Imbecile</em>! <em>Cretino! Citrullo!”</em></p><p class="western">“Ah, spare me! You ignorant neanderthal!” yelled Ghetsis, “As if you didn't remember that you said it yourself I was allowed to stay for six whole months!”</p><p class="western">“That was before I came back and told you to leave! Because things changed! And I needed you out before expected! And since the house is mine, it's simply natural to expect you to leave when I tell you to! You idiot!” argued the other man, and Maxie thought he might as well interrupt them and change the focus of that conversation to himself, in order to avoid a bigger conflict between Giovanni and Ghetsis.</p><p class="western">“Uh... Yes, Giovanni is right...” he said, “All three of us should be gone by now, Ghetsis. I'm actually slightly ashamed to still be here... But as soon as we have the conditions to move out, we...” but Giovanni interrupted him.</p><p class="western">“Maxie, seriously, you are the least of my problems! I wouldn't mind if you and Archie stayed for a whole year more! At least you two help with something! All I want is that cabbage-headed idiot out of my darn house!”</p><p class="western">“Thank you, Giovanni!” exclaimed Archie, still unaffected by the ongoing argument. Meanwhile, Ghetsis was still babbling about all his complaints.</p><p class="western">“I don't even understand why you had to show up here and annoy me with your absurd demands!” said the old man, “You keep saying you had to come and that we have to leave, but why are you even here?! What did you come for?! Why do you need us out if there's nothing happening here in the mansion?!”</p><p class="western">“Well, uh...” said Maxie timidly, and absolutely no one heard him, “in his defense, the house does belong to him, so I don't think he needs a... well... a reason...”</p><p class="western">“Why do you care, Ghetsis?!” yelled Giovanni, “This is none of your business! I want to stay here and I want you out! So leave! You don't need to know why and I don't owe you any explanations!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, so you think it's fair to kick a man out of his home without even telling him why?!”</p><p class="western">“This is not your home! It is <em>my</em> home!”</p><p class="western">“No, this is just your house! It's not your home because you don't live here!”</p><p class="western">“Yes, I do now!” yelled Giovanni, pulling his hairs and closing his eyes, and Ghetsis widened his eyes a bit.</p><p class="western">“What?!” he exclaimed, “You... You mean you moved in here for good?!</p><p class="western">“Yes! Finally you got it, eh?! I'm gonna live here for good! Forever! This is my darn house now, OK?! I live here! Not in Kanto! Not in Viridian! Here! Right here!” said Giovanni emphatically, shaking his hands around.</p><p class="western">“Why?!” yelled Ghetsis, clearly angry about the news, since they meant he wouldn't have another chance to steal Giovanni's bed. But the other man suddenly quieted down.</p><p class="western">“That's none of your business...” he replied, looking away and crossing his arms.</p><p class="western">“Is everything OK?” asked Archie, noticing something might not be right. He was sure used to having Ghetsis and Giovanni yell all the time, but Giovanni's sudden silence was something new.</p><p class="western">“No! It's not!” exclaimed Giovanni, giving in, “It's not OK! I'm mad! And I'm tired! And I just wanted to have some peace! Can't a man have some peace in his own house?”</p><p class="western">“Uh... But...” said Maxie, “I'm sorry to ask this, Giovanni... But if you're gonna live here for good...”</p><p class="western">“That changes nothing for the two of you.” said Giovanni, “You take your time to find another job and a place to go and then leave, just like we've talked before.”</p><p class="western">“No, that's... I was gonna ask something else.” said the Magma boss, “It's just that... Ghetsis said you have a son and...”</p><p class="western">Giovanni sighed.</p><p class="western">“Oh, yes! That's right!” said Ghetsis, “So this is why you want us out, eh? To bring your stupid wife and son to live here in our place! Agh! Darn it!”</p><p class="western">“Shut up!” complained the owner of the house. “It's not that. I want you out because I'm sick of you! That's the only reason!”</p><p class="western">“Bah! Like I care!” answered the green-haired man, “I don't care about your stupid family anyway! I wouldn't move from this place even if they arrived tonight!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, I'm excited about meeting your family, Giovanni!” said Archie, trying to keep a positive atmosphere. “When are they moving in?!”</p><p class="western">“They are <em>not</em> moving in!” yelled Giovanni, standing up violently and knocking his chair down, “Ever!”</p><p class="western">Maxie covered his mouth and there were a few seconds of silence.</p><p class="western">“But... Why not?” asked Archie, confused, and Giovanni kicked the chair by his side out of frustration.</p><p class="western">“Because I'm divorcing my wife, Archibald!” he yelled, “We're not gonna live together anymore!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, dear me...” whispered Maxie, covering his face with his hands.</p><p class="western">“Oh!” Exclaimed Archie, now feeling rather awkward, “Oof... I'm, eh... Sorry to hear that...” The Aqua Boss suddenly widened his eyes before continuing “Wait, so <em>that's</em> why you moved to this mansion here!” he concluded.</p><p class="western">“Yes, this is why I've moved in here! I won't live with her anymore... And I came to this house! And I'll stay in this house! Forever! Are you all satisfied now, eh? Are you satisfied, Ghetsis?”</p><p class="western">“Well, finally you explained something!” said the old man, demonstrating his spectacular lack of empathy.</p><p class="western">“I'm so sorry to hear about your divorce, Giovanni...” said Maxie, “If there's anything we can do to help...”</p><p class="western">“Oh, you bet there is!” he replied, “I've had enough! Archie, Maxie, grab Ghetsis' legs and I'll grab his arms!”</p><p class="western">“W-what?” asked the Team Magma's former leader.</p><p class="western">“We're gonna take him out of this house even if it's by force!”</p><p class="western">“Welp, OK...” said Archie, standing up.</p><p class="western">The couple approached the old man and Maxie pulled his chair back, asking himself what in the name of ever-loving Arceus they were doing.</p><p class="western">“What?! You barbaric freaks! You bunch of moronic idiots! Insane little beasts! Are you out of your minds?” protested Ghetsis while the three men grabbed his limbs and lifted him off the chair.</p><p class="western">“Come, to the front-yard! Let's throw him in the middle of the square and lock the gates!” ordered Giovanni, and the two other men obeyed, although Ghetsis kept fighting back, trying to free himself.</p><p class="western">“You are going to pay for this! I'm going to take revenge! You have no idea who you're dealing with!” yelled the man, “I've gotten rid of people stronger than you before and I will not hesitate before bringing my wrath upon you for this absurd treatment, you hear?! Just you wait!”</p><p class="western">“Shut up!” said Giovanni, “Otherwise I'll have Proton go after you!”</p><p class="western">“You think I'm afraid of Proton? Let's see who's a better bounty hunter! Proton or I!” Ghetsis then laughed maniacally, “I'm going to ruin Proton's whole career! And then I will laugh at your face, Giovanni!”</p><p class="western">The four of them entered the living room, holding Ghetsis as tightly as possible, and started heading to the mansion's front door when something completely unexpected happened.</p><p class="western">They heard the sound of something soft, yet slightly heavy, falling down the chimney, and to the surprise of every living soul in the house, a woman none of them had ever seen before came crawling out of the fireplace. She wore a white dress and black and white leggings, and her long blonde hair was very messy and covered in dirt.</p><p class="western">“Oh, my dear Groudon!” yelled Maxie, turning pale and letting go of Ghetsis' leg.</p><p class="western">“What the...?” said Giovanni, who lost his strength due to the confusion, and Ghetsis managed to pull his hands and free himself from the other men.</p><p class="western">“It's a woman!” said Archie, still holding Ghetsis' other leg, although the other two men had already completely forgotten about their mission of throwing the old man out by then.</p><p class="western">“Hello!” said the woman, standing up and trying to take the dirt out of her clothes, but she was completely covered in dust, coal and cinders. They also noticed she was holding a plush doll that looked like a kind of Frillish-related Pokémon.</p><p class="western">“Who the heck are you?!” yelled Ghetsis, kicking Archie's stomach and finally freeing his leg, while Maxie and Giovanni remained speechless.</p><p class="western">“My name is Lusamine!” said the woman cheerfully, “and this is Nihilego!” she added, showing her plush toy. “It came from another dimension! And it is my best friend!”</p><p class="western">None of the men were able to respond for a whole minute.</p><p class="western">“Nice to meet you, Lusamine! I'm Archibald! But you can call me Archie! Also, nice to meet little Nihilego there!” the Aqua boss bent his body forward and waved at the toy “Heya, buddy!”</p><p class="western">“Uh... L-Lusamine... I...” babbled Maxie. “Oh, dear me... Nothing from my previous life experiences has prepared me for this! I don't know if I should call the police or offer her a seat by the table!” he cried.</p><p class="western">“Police?!” yelled Ghetsis, standing up surprisingly fast, “Are you insane?! You can't call the police, you idiot! I'm on the run! I'm hiding! Have you forgotten?!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, come on, guys! She looks nice!” protested Archie, while Lusamine looked around the house smiling.</p><p class="western">“She... We don't know her! We don't know her intentions! I mean... What if she's here to steal something or...”</p><p class="western">“Steal something?!” protested Ghetsis, “What kind of criminals are you two?! When you want to steal something, you don't come in and introduce yourself to the owners! You idiot! Besides, she doesn't even have Pokémon with her, look at that! She's defenseless!”</p><p class="western">“I don't think she means any harm!” said Archie, “Maybe she's just lost...”</p><p class="western">“Lost? In the mansion's chimney?!” asked Maxie.</p><p class="western">“What are you doing in my house?!” exclaimed Giovanni, who had been petrified until then.</p><p class="western">“Oh!” answered the woman, turning back at them with that same naive-looking smile on her face, “Nihilego told me this would be a good place to hide!”</p><p class="western">“What?” asked both Maxie and Giovanni.</p><p class="western">“Well, I don't think Nihilego is wrong!” said Archie, “After all, Ghetsis is hiding here and no one has found him yet!”</p><p class="western">“Don't tell her I'm hiding here, you moron! She might give me in!” complained Ghetsis.</p><p class="western">“But you already said it yourself before, Ghetsis...” replied the Aqua boss, scratching his head.</p><p class="western">“Oh! Nice to know you are also playing the game, Dennis!” she said, approaching the old man.</p><p class="western">“The g... Dennis?!” he replied, confused.</p><p class="western">“Oh, if I'm not mistaken,” she proceeded to say, turning to Giovanni, who still had his mouth open, “you are the owner of this house, isn't that so?”</p><p class="western">“Wh... I... H-how did you...?” he tried to say, but couldn't finish.</p><p class="western">“Nihi told me! Nihi knows everything!”</p><p class="western">There was another moment of silence, which lasted for nearly a minute, before Maxie decided to lead Giovanni to his favorite armchair.</p><p class="western">“Maybe you should sit down, Giovanni...”</p><p class="western">“Yes... I definitely should sit down...” he replied, falling down on his chair.</p><p class="western">“You haven't told me your name yet!” said Lusamine, suddenly popping from behind Maxie and frightening him to death.</p><p class="western">“Uh! Well... Do I really have to?” he said, slightly concerned and annoyed. The woman giggled.</p><p class="western">“Oh, you're right. Nihilego can tell me about it!” she said.</p><p class="western">“Come on, Maxie... Tell her your name!” said Archie.</p><p class="western">“Why? You've just done it...” complained his partner.</p><p class="western">“OK!” exclaimed Giovanni, who had been able to recover a bit of his strength by then. “I don't think it's humanly possible to count, in the span of a lifetime, the number of questions I have, but I'll do my best to select the most important ones! First of all! Who are you?!”</p><p class="western">“Lusamine!” she repeated, “It's spelled L-U-S-A-M...”</p><p class="western">“No, OK, OK!” interrupted Giovanni, placing his hand on his forehead, “Lusamine! All right! But who are you? What do you do? Where did you come from?!”</p><p class="western">“Oh! This is simple!” she replied, “I escaped the spaceship to hide from my children! If they find me, Nihi and I will lose the game...”</p><p class="western">“That explains nothing...” said Giovanni, tired.</p><p class="western">“We all flew to this magical land from the tropical paradise of Alola! The Aether house is safe since Wicke is taking care of it and the Pokémon from my collection must be traveling around Jupiter by now, so I don't have to worry about anything there! This is why Lillie-billy and Glady-laddy brought me and Nihi to this Region, so see the wise old man and then enter the spaceship with all the nurses and magicians.”</p><p class="western">Maxie and Archie exchanged looks, while Ghetsis crossed his arms and Giovanni giggled sarcastically before sighing again and remained in silence for a few seconds.</p><p class="western">“Why is my life like this...?” he asked himself, and then looked up at the woman in front of him. “OK. It seems like I won't get anything from you, Lusamine! Can you at least explain to me why exactly you came to <em>my</em> house of all places?”</p><p class="western">“Nihi told me to.” she said.</p><p class="western">“Of course it did...” grumbled Giovanni, pinching the bridge of his nose, “And why would this... 'Nihi'... Tell you such a thing?”</p><p class="western">“Because it knows.” she said.</p><p class="western">“This is going nowhere...” the man gave in.</p><p class="western">“Lusamine,” intervened Maxie, “Can you tell us exactly what Nihilego told you? For example... Why did you need to come here? Why were you and Nihilego looking for some place like this one?”</p><p class="western">“Oh, this is simple too!” she stated, and then giggled, “I needed a place to hide. A safe place! And Nihilego said that if I came to this house, then I'd be safe. It said that there were people here who would let me stay! And that everything would work out!”</p><p class="western">“Let you stay?!” protested Giovanni, “What do you think this place is, a hotel?!”</p><p class="western">“Well, we're staying here...” said Archie.</p><p class="western">“Yes, exactly! Three people are already staying here and now a complete stranger shows up expecting to simply... stay?!”</p><p class="western">“That's right!” she said, calmly, “I thought you might resist... But in the end, you shall give in! It's what Nihilego said would happen, so you have no choice!”</p><p class="western">Giovanni was once again speechless.</p><p class="western">“I'm going back to my room...” said Ghetsis, not loud enough to drag the others' attention to him, and went upstairs, satisfied that something had deviated the focus from him.</p><p class="western">“Lusamine, I'm sorry, but...” said the Magma Boss “What are you hiding from? Are you in any danger?”</p><p class="western">“I told you, silly! I'm hiding from my kids!” she said, still happy. “They will take a long time to find me if I'm here...”</p><p class="western">“OK...” replied Maxie. “Why are you hiding from them?”</p><p class="western">“Forget it, Maxie! The woman is clearly insane!” interrupted Giovanni. “Let's just call the police and-”</p><p class="western">“No!” screamed Lusamine, becoming suddenly furious, and all the three men cowered back a bit. Then, as if nothing had happened, she smiled. “You can't do this because Dennis is hiding from the police!” added the woman, and no one had the guts to reply. She continued speaking, “Besides, you can't just ignore Nihilego like that... You have to value it! And give it lots of love! Like me!”</p><p class="western">“Well, I think it's cute!” said Archie, pointing at the toy.</p><p class="western">“OK. Lusamine...” said Giovanni, now more carefully “Is there anyone we can call to come pick you up?”</p><p class="western">“Of course not, silly!” she replied, “I'm hiding! You can't tell anyone about it! Otherwise Nihilego and I will open a bunch of Ultra Wormholes and summon an army of Ultra Beasts to completely destroy your property and annihilate you and everyone you ever cared for!” she added with the same naive-looking smile, that now seemed slightly creepier than before.</p><p class="western">“All... right...” replied Giovanni, “Maxie, come here...”, the Magma boss approached him and he started to whisper, “I'm beginning to think we might be dealing with a relatively dangerous individual here... Maybe she's just crazy and harmless, but... I think she might as well be an actual threat...”</p><p class="western">“Agreed...” said Maxie, looking at her while she talked innocently to his partner about their favorite types of Pokémon.</p><p class="western">“Thinking about that,” continued Giovanni, “I think we shouldn't try to get any other info from her... Specially since she only speaks nonsense... We should try to find out who she is and who we should call to get rid of her on our own.”</p><p class="western">“So you're calling the police?”</p><p class="western">Giovanni sighed. He thought about the amount of noise Ghetsis would make if he actually called the police. And then he thought about the fact the all of them were literally criminals, or former criminals, living together, and about how that could look suspicious and cost him even more money to bribe the cops to leave them alone. Yes, that would be troublesome... Besides, they would find out he was hiding a fugitive, and he'd probably have to bribe even more people to wipe out that info as well.</p><p class="western">“No. Let's try to find out some other way... If nothing else works, we call the police.”</p><p class="western">“Right. And what do we do now...?”</p><p class="western">The owner sighed again. He was way too tired.</p><p class="western">“Give her some food and let her shower. She's filthy... Then take her to the room next to mine. We have another spare mattress...”</p><p class="western">“But... We're letting her stay, I mean... Are you not worried she might be dangerous?”</p><p class="western">Giovanni chuckled.</p><p class="western">“She might be dangerous, but not more than me. Besides, she's completely crazy and has no Pokémon. I don't think she's planning anything... If we do as she says, she'll probably be harmless.”</p><p class="western">“All right...” said Maxie. “Lusamine, come here! Let's give you something to eat, you must be hungry...”</p><p class="western">“Oh, thank you, Maximus!” she said, and Maxie wondered if he had actually told her his full name, “I'm glad you all chose to cooperate with Nihilego!”</p><p class="western">After eating and taking a shower, the uninvited visitor was taken to her new room. Giovanni had lent her some old clothes from his ex-wife and Archie helped bring the spare mattress upstairs. Maxie kept thinking about how unbelievable that situation was. How could a young woman like that choose to simply show up at a house with four older men and stay for the night? At the same time he was glad she trusted them, even if that seemed naive to him.</p><p class="western">While Maxie helped preparing her bed, Lusamine told him about herself. It was pretty hard to tell which parts were true and which ones were lies. He presumed that she was telling the truth about having children, and about her name being Lusamine, but didn't really believe the parts about her being 41 years old, having just arrived from another planet called “Ultraniter”, knowing how to see into the future, having escaped a group of ninjas who were after her to steal her precious baby and specially about her being the president of a high-tech international organization, located in an artificial island in a paradisiacal archipelago far away from that region. After a few more minutes babbling about all that nonsense and asking Maxie a bit about himself, she ended up telling him something a lot more likely.</p><p class="western">“I was an interplanetary farmer.” she said, “I had dozens of Slowpokes in my farm! Me and Nihi commercialized their tails, and this is how we got rich!”</p><p class="western">Of course the “interplanetary” bit was a delirium, but of all things she had told him, being a Slowpoke farmer was by far the most likely one. He presumed it was probably the truth about her past and, after wishing her a good night, informed Giovanni of everything he had discovered. The Rocket leader agreed with Maxie about the parts that were true and the ones that were lies, and the two of them proceeded to spend nearly two hours searching useful information on the Internet. When searching for the woman's first name, they had no luck. The only results they got were random social media profiles and a link to the site of an organization responsible for rescuing mistreated Pokémon or something similar. Since both of them were way too confused to pay attention when Lusamine first told them about her story, none of them remembered her saying anything about an “Aether Foundation”, and discarded that website without even accessing it. They soon concluded the woman might have made up that name as well, and started to look for Slowpoke farms in the region.</p><p class="western">After calling seven different farms and finding out none of them had ever heard of a Lusamine, or of a blond woman with a long hair who had gone missing, the two men gave up and decided to go to sleep and think about that on the following day.</p><p class="western">However, they didn't continue their research on the following day. Yes, Maxie did mention during breakfast that they had to keep searching later on, and Giovanni did agree with him and said they could do it after lunch, but since after lunch neither Giovanni nor Maxie talked about that, they ended up not doing it at all. Meanwhile, Archie spent a lot of time with Lusamine on that day. He really enjoyed her stories and her love for Pokémon, so it didn't take long before the two of them became friends.</p><p class="western">Before dinner, Lusamine offered Maxie some help setting the table and slicing some berries for the pie he was baking, which pleased him very much. She seemed to really enjoy helping others and giving them attention in any way. In fact, she turned out to be a lovely person even towards Ghetsis, who was as rude to her as he was to everyone else.</p><p class="western">“You may say you don't want it, Dennis, but I'm gonna show you all my love anyway! There's no escaping it!” she told him, while he yelled at her face to leave him alone and stop calling him Dennis. “Maximus and Archibald love each other a lot, but you have no one to care for you! Just like Nihilego, alone in the Ultra Space... Creatures like Nihilego and yourself need someone to take care of them and give them some love! Like a mother! I can do that! I'm a mother to all my Pokémon...”</p><p class="western">“No! Shut up, you idiot!” replied Ghetsis, “Do you even know who you're talking to?! I'm an old man and I can take care of myself! You and your Nihilego can get lost! Now leave me alone!”</p><p class="western">At that moment, Lusamine stopped smiling for the first time since her arrival on the previous night. In fact, not only did she stop smiling, but she also frowned in such a terrifying way that even Ghetsis felt slightly threatened.</p><p class="western">“So you are denying a mother's love?” she said, then giggled maliciously. “You are such an ungrateful being! Ungrateful old man...” Out of the blue, she raised her voice, and pushed Ghetsis away. “Fine! You are not even beautiful enough to deserve my love anyway! You are ugly! Ugly and ungrateful!”</p><p class="western">“W-what?” babbled Ghetsis, confused.</p><p class="western">“You think you are special and independent... You think you don't need my love!?” she continued, while approaching him with her fists clenched, and even though Ghetsis was no less than 26 centimeters taller than her, he stepped back, “Well just you wait and see what I'll do when you need me! Oh, I'm not one of those mothers willing to give my babies unconditional love, no I'm not! If you had accepted my love, maybe... But you were spoiled and ugly and chose to reject it! So now don't you count on me for anything, you!” she gradually raised her voice as she spoke, and kept walking towards Ghetsis, “Whenever you see yourself alone and scared, and you come to me seeking shelter... I will laugh at you! I will laugh at your fear and walk away, because it's what you deserve!” she yelled, and then suddenly started to speak at a lower volume again. “And then, do you know what I'll do?” She asked and raised a finger in the air, then put it near Ghetsis' face, making him cower a little. “I'm gonna go...” she whispered, slowly approaching Ghetsis nose with her finger “Boop!” she finally said while gently poking his nose, and started giggling and laughing.</p><p class="western">“Uh...?” said Ghetsis, while the woman walked back giggling.</p><p class="western">“Now it's your turn, Dennis!” she said, with the same naive and happy intonation from before, “I caught you, so now you have to catch me! I bet you can't! I can run really fast!”</p><p class="western">“What the-!” said Ghetsis, confused, “What about the whole speech about abandoning ungrateful creatures to suffer and all that?! I was interested!”</p><p class="western">“I don't know what you're talking about Dennis! All creatures deserve our love! This is why my life mission is to give every Pokémon and person the warm love of a mother! Isn't it nice?”</p><p class="western">“No!” replied Ghetsis, but the woman didn't hear and ran off saying 'you can't catch me!'. Even though Ghetsis didn't understand what had just happened, he smiled a little. The woman wasn't such a useless idiot after all. Maybe, if he managed to activate her evil mode more frequently, she could even become a tool for his evil deeds!</p><p class="western">“What was that...?” asked Maxie, approaching the old man. “She seemed really angry at you, Ghetsis...”</p><p class="western">“I don't know what it was, but I liked it!” he replied, smiling maliciously, but Maxie ignored his words.</p><p class="western">“I'm worried about this kind of unpredictable behavior... Lusamine has been very sweet and helpful so far, but sometimes she looks kinda scary...” he scratched his chin, “Maybe some sort of therapeutic activity could help her control these sudden fits of rage...”</p><p class="western">“Why?” asked Ghetsis, crossing his arms, “First, she's not even gonna stay here! You and Giovanni may not want to kick her out, but you're looking for someone to call to pick her up, right? So she's going away soon! And second, controlling one's rage is for the weak!” he yelled.</p><p class="western">“You're right...” replied the red-haired man, “Not about the rage-control, obviously, but about her going away soon. Anyway I can't help but worry about her...” he sighed. “I guess I'm getting slightly attached to her... Oh, dear me.”</p><p class="western">On the next day, Maxie and Giovanni tried to search a bit more about Lusamine. They looked for “Nihilego” on the Internet, but didn't get any good results. This time, they gave up a lot more quickly, and decided to postpone the search for whenever they got a bit more information from her. That, however, didn't really happen on the next few days.</p><p class="western">Archie and Maxie were the first ones to get used to her presence and start enjoying it. After the first week, every time Giovanni mentioned they had to get rid of her, Maxie would agree vaguely and then change the topic, for he really didn't feel like sending her away. Soon, even Giovanni stopped talking about getting rid of her. He would sometimes mention they still had to try to find out where she came from, but his efforts to do so were becoming more and more scarce. After twelve days, Ghetsis was the only one who would sometimes ask “What about the mad woman, eh? Aren't you guys getting rid of her?” which would usually result on a few shrugs and vague replies from the others about doing it later, until, on the fifteenth day, Giovanni lost his patience and started screaming about how, if they had to get rid of anyone in that house, this person was Ghetsis himself, and not Lusamine.</p><p class="western">After that, Ghetsis thought it was better not to mention the riddance again, and accepted that Lusamine was most likely staying for a long time in that place.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Visitor</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">“Oh, Archie! You'll never believe who it was!” said Maxie, coming back to the dining room.</p><p class="western">The red-haired man had left the dining table to answer his phone and had just spent nearly half an hour talking to whoever it was that had called him.</p><p class="western">“Uh... Tabitha?” guessed Archie, but his partner shook his head.</p><p class="western">“Was it Groudon?” asked Lusamine, but Maxie denied it again.</p><p class="western">“Lysandre!” he exclaimed smiling, and Archie seemed excited.</p><p class="western">“Who is Lysandre?” asked Giovanni.</p><p class="western">“He's an old acquaintance!” explained the red-haired man, “I met him long ago in Hoenn, before all the mess we caused, that is... He had come to the region to work on some charity projects, he said... As far as I know, he was negotiating to get support from the Devon corporation, it was some project to help provide better clothing for poor trainers or something. I don't know what became of it. Either way, I met him under pretty unusual circumstances... After seeing one of my Magma grunts on the street, he asked her if she could introduce him to whoever had come up with her beautiful red clothes... And so she brought him to me.” he giggled, “He was pretty disappointed to find out I wasn't a fashion designer or something, but either way we chatted for a long time and kinda became friends... But we lost contact after a while. I wasn't expecting to hear from him again!”</p><p class="western">“I never met him,” said Archie, “but Maxie told me about him a few times! He said it's the tallest man he ever saw, so I really wanted to see him!”</p><p class="western">“Fascinating...” replied Giovanni, not very interested.</p><p class="western">“Bah! I doubt he's taller than me!” complained Ghetsis.</p><p class="western">“Oh, no, Ghetsis, believe me, he's really, really tall...” replied Maxie.</p><p class="western">“Maybe he's an Exeggutor in disguise!” said Lusamine, but no one understood her suggestion.</p><p class="western">“Anyway... It was great to hear from him again!” continued Maxie, “I told him to call me again later on so that we can talk a bit more... But I was thinking, Giovanni...”</p><p class="western">“Um?” groaned the man, while chewing his food.</p><p class="western">“Is that OK if I invite him over?” asked the former Magma boss, “Just for an afternoon, so that I could see him again! I thought of baking some cookies... Maybe making some waffles...”</p><p class="western">“Yes!” yelled Ghetsis, “Waffles! Excellent idea! Bring the man here! I want waffles!”</p><p class="western">“I can't see why not.” replied Giovanni, “This way Archie gets to meet him.”</p><p class="western">“And we can check if he's an Exeggutor or not...” said Lusamine.</p><p class="western">“Oh, great! I'm gonna tell him to come visit during the weekend then!”</p><p class="western">It had been a little bit more than a month since Lusamine had arrived, and everyone in the house was pretty much used to her by then. Her fits of anger were rare, and usually didn't last for more than a minute or two, but Maxie still wanted to find out about a good way to calm her down and help her control her temper. Archie and Maxie still believed they had to leave the house eventually and would start looking for jobs every now and then, even though Giovanni had never asked them to leave or talked about their presence again ever since that night when they had tried to kick Ghetsis out. In fact, Giovanni himself was now so used to their presence that, even though he wouldn't admit it, he would miss them if they left. Even Lusamine turned out to be good company, brightening up the mood in the house. Besides, she was the only one who tolerated Ghetsis and so worked as some sort of distraction to the old man. Instead of arguing with Giovanni and annoying the other housemates, Ghetsis would redirect his energy to trying to get Lusamine away from him.</p><p class="western">Giovanni still wanted Ghetsis out, but didn't have the heart to forcibly remove him from the house in front of Lusamine, who liked him so much. Specially because it would potentially lead to a fit of rage from her. “After Lusamine decides to leave, or someone else finds her and takes her away, we can get rid of the old cabbage-head.” he told Maxie, and the red-haired man agreed.</p><p class="western">On Saturday, Archie and Lusamine decided to decorate the house for Lysandre's visit. They made several drawings and posters and hanged them around the living room, while Maxie made piles and piles of waffles. Giovanni didn't mind their preparations, but Ghetsis did complain a lot about the “foolish childish drawings”, and only stopped after Giovanni told him he wouldn't be offered any waffles if he didn't stop complaining about everything.</p><p class="western">It was five o'clock when the doorbell rang and Archie sprang to his feet excitedly.</p><p class="western">“It's Lysandre! Ooooh! Maxie, he's here!” he yelled, while the Magma boss stood up calmly and walked to the door.</p><p class="western">“Archie, calm down! Try to make a good first impression!” he said, and opened the door.</p><p class="western">“Oh, hello, Maximus, darling!” exclaimed Lysandre, walking in before Maxie could even reply. Walking after him was a young dark-haired man who kept apologizing and seemed slightly embarrassed, and who introduced himself to Maxie as Professor Augustine Sycamore. “Oh, dear, what a lovely, lovely mansion! Such a huge, beautiful place! Tell me, Maximus, how did you end up in such a wonderful place? Oh, don't tell me, I'm sure it was lots of hard work and perseverance! And where is your partner? I'm crazy to meet him!”</p><p class="western">As the man extravagantly walked in, Giovanni, Ghetsis and Archie kept looking, completely baffled by his height. He was for sure taller than Ghetsis. But Ghetsis was already 2 meters tall, so how tall could that man be? 2,10? Was that possible? While the three men stared at him speechless, Lusamine stepped forward to introduce herself.</p><p class="western">“Hello! You must be Lysandre! My name is Lusamine!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, hello, sweetheart! It's a pleasure!” replied the tall man, grabbing both her hands gently, and Giovanni noticed that the size difference between his hands and hers were the same of that of an adult holding a child's hands.</p><p class="western">“Are you an Exeggutor?” she asked him, and the man widened his eyes and exchanged perplexed glances with Augustine before answering.</p><p class="western">“An Exeggutor?” he asked, confused, and then started to giggle, “Oh, the Hoennian humor is so peculiar! Amazing! Maxie!” he turned to the former Magma boss, who had just closed the front door, “Is this lovely woman your bride? I thought you only liked men, darling!”</p><p class="western">“Oh!” Maxie blushed, “N-no, no, Lusamine is just a friend! My fiance is Archibald!” he replied, approaching Archie and holding him by the right arm.</p><p class="western">“Nice to meet you, Lysandre! You really are tall, eh?” said Archie, shaking his hand, “Nice to meet you, Augustine!” he told Sycamore right after.</p><p class="western">“Oh, Archibald! What a beautiful name! Approved, yes, definitely approved!”</p><p class="western">“You can call me Archie!” said the Aqua boss, and Lysandre nodded.</p><p class="western">“Now look at you two!” the tall man made a small frame with his thumbs and index fingers and looked through it with one eye closed, as if to picture what a portrait of them would look like, “You two are a perfect pair! Made for each other indeed! I love the contrast! He's in blue, you're in red, he has dark skin and you have light skin... Your long hair and his beard! He's so strong and you're so skinny, Maxie! Oh, I love it! A perfect composition! So aesthetic! Exquisite!”</p><p class="western">For the first time in forever, Giovanni and Ghetsis exchanged glances, thinking exactly the same about their visitor.</p><p class="western">“Oh, well, I suppose Augustine has already introduced himself, right?” continued Lysandre, “he's my partner! We've been together for a few months...”</p><p class="western">“Oh, how lovely!” said Maxie, and Archie agreed, “You two look great together as well!”</p><p class="western">“Yes! You are huge and all orange and he's much shorter!” said Archie, trying to find the same sorts of visual differences Lysandre had pointed out before.</p><p class="western">“Thank you, sweethearts!” replied Lysandre, and Sycamore smiled, “Now what about your other friends?!” he turned at Giovanni and Ghetsis, “aren't you going to introduce them?”</p><p class="western">“We're not friends!” yelled Ghetsis, while Giovanni stepped forward to introduce himself.</p><p class="western">“Pleased to meet you, Lysandre and Sycamore. My name is Giovanni. I'm the owner of this house.”</p><p class="western">“Oh, wonderful! You have a marvelous taste! So you all live together here?” said Lysandre, “But are you part of their family? A relative of Archibald's maybe?”</p><p class="western">“Oh, no, no!” corrected Giovanni, “We just happen to share the mansion...” he said, vaguely, trying to avoid further explanation, once he actually didn't know how to explain their current situation.</p><p class="western">“I see!” replied the visitor, “I must say, I love your accent! Where are you from? Italy?” asked the man, and Giovanni smiled proudly.</p><p class="western">“Yes, precisely! Italy!” he said.</p><p class="western">“We come from Kalos,” said Sycamore, “we're not very used to hearing Italian accent.”</p><p class="western">“Kalos, eh? I suppose you must speak french then.”</p><p class="western">“<em>Oui, oui</em>!” replied Lysandre, “I'm glad to know you're well informed of Kalosian culture! Have you ever been there?”</p><p class="western">“Oh yes, long ago... But it would be interesting to visit again some day.” replied Giovanni.</p><p class="western">“Oh, and...” said Maxie, trying to sound positive, “This here is Ghetsis... he... he lives here too.”</p><p class="western">Lysandre looked at the old man and reached out for a handshake, but Ghetsis didn't grab his hand and, instead, crossed his arms grumpily. Lysandre frowned a little bit before retrieving his hand.</p><p class="western">“Nice to meet you, Ghetsis,” He said, not as joyfully as before, “you're not by any chance Galarian, are you?”</p><p class="western">“Galarian?” asked Ghetsis, offended, “of course not! I'm Unovan!”</p><p class="western">“Oh!” said Lysandre, before turning to Sycamore and whispering to him something in french, not knowing that Ghetsis understood the language, and was very aware of the fact he had just said “I had no idea people in Unova were that rude...”</p><p class="western">The six men and Lusamine sat down in the main living room, and Maxie fetched the waffles and cookies he had made during the morning. Lysandre complimented the handmade decoration, proceeding to make a short monologue about the value of simple, yet sincere expressions of art, and how we should always expand our aesthetic values in order to fit such works which, although not so traditionally beautiful, were made with sheer love and sincere effort, translating to the world the purest feelings of the human beings behind them. Archie, who didn't understand everything the man had said, thanked him for the compliments, and Lusamine invited him to make a drawing himself, an idea he very much enjoyed. After creating what he described as a magnificent work of art and hanging it with the other drawings, Lysandre and Sycamore started talking about the development of true art and beauty standards in modern-days society, a subject neither Maxie nor Giovanni knew much about, but enjoyed hearing of nonetheless.</p><p class="western">Surprisingly, though, Ghetsis revealed himself to be extremely knowledgeable in such subjects, and soon engaged in a heated discussion with the Kalosian visitors about modern and contemporary art, and its influences from traditional art throughout history. Archie, Maxie and Giovanni could barely believe that man talking in front of them was the same green-haired troglodyte who kept yelling about waffles and complaining about everything every day. He was legitimately interested in the subject, and even excited about it.</p><p class="western">After three hours of chat, the two visitors said they would go away, for it was getting late, but both Giovanni and Maxie insisted that they stayed for dinner. Maxie got several compliments for his food, and Lysandre started asking him questions about where he had learned how to cook, then about what had become of his old Team Magma, then about his wedding plans and finally about how he had met Archie. Lysandre was surprised to find out that Archibald was precisely the same Archie who Maxie had talked about several years ago, referring to as his biggest rival, and leader of Team Aqua.</p><p class="western">“Oh, isn't it amazing how life takes those unexpected turns... Love truly wins against all hatred, does it not?” exclaimed Lysandre, with tears on his eyes, after hearing the whole story about the couples' reconciliation.</p><p class="western">After dinner, Giovanni insisted that the two men should drink something with him, and they ended up staying for another two hours, talking mostly about Lysandre's huge project to create a better world, and about his company, the Lysandre Labs. It was already a quarter to midnight when Sycamore mentioned one more time that they should be leaving.</p><p class="western">“Oh, dear me... But it's so late!” said Maxie, “It's almost midnight! I suppose time does fly...”</p><p class="western">“Oh, we hadn't seen each other in ages, there was a lot to talk about...”</p><p class="western">“And we didn't even know you two, so we had to talk for all the time we spent without knowing each other before!” added Lusamine.</p><p class="western">“What a lovely way to put it!” said the tall man, “I absolutely adore your sense of humor, Lusamine!”</p><p class="western">“I would offer you to stay for the night,” said Giovanni, “but we're currently lacking a guest's room, so there wouldn't be enough beds... “In fact, I guess it's time I bought more beds for this house... I've never finished the renovations after I moved in...”</p><p class="western">“Don't worry about us, Giovanni” said Sycamore, “we're staying at a hotel nearby.”</p><p class="western">“How long are you staying in this region?” asked the mansion owner.</p><p class="western">“Until Wednesday!” replied Lysandre.</p><p class="western">“So make sure to pass by again before you leave, so that we can say bye.” offered he Rocket leader, and the two visitors thanked him.</p><p class="western">On Tuesday night, the men came back to the mansion and spent another three hours there. By the end of the night, Lysandre decided to make them an offer to repay their hospitality.</p><p class="western">“Why don't you all visit Kalos sometime?” he said, “I can pay your hotel rooms, so you don't really have to worry about it! And I'll show you everything in our beautiful region! You will definitely love the landscapes and the different kinds of Pokémon! You can even catch some rare species! How about it?”</p><p class="western">“Oh, thank you very much, Lysandre.” said Giovanni, “We would love to visit Kalos. Well, re-visit, for me.”</p><p class="western">“Yes, it's lovely of you to offer that much! But are you sure it wouldn't bother you?” asked Maxie.</p><p class="western">“Bother? Oh, darling, of course not! You have all been so kind to me and Augie! I have to repay you somehow!”</p><p class="western">“Nice! I want to go, Maxie! I wanna see the rare Pokémon!” exclaimed Archie.</p><p class="western">“Maybe they have a different kind of Nihilego there...” said Lusamine.</p><p class="western">“Bah! Are you all crazy?” yelled Ghetsis, out of the blue, “I can't afford to simply leave the region and walk around in public like that! Have you forgotten about my situation, eh?”</p><p class="western">Augustine and Lysandre didn't really understand, but protested.</p><p class="western">“Oh, but Ghetsis, dear! You would like Lumiose city so much!” said Lysandre, and Ghetsis crossed his arms and turned away. Lysandre continued “Besides, there's a wonderful exposition in Lumiose's museum right now! It's a contemporary artist who creates sculptures and paintings based on the music of Stravinsky!”</p><p class="western">Ghetsis widened his eyes and turned his head back to Lysandre.</p><p class="western">“Stravinsky?!” he exclaimed excitedly, “Really?! Oh, well, if it's not one of my favorite composers! I guess...” he scratched his chin and thought for a few seconds. “Bah! Screw it! I want to see this exposition! I accept the offer, Lysandre!”</p><p class="western">Although disappointed Ghetsis was going with them, the other men decided it wasn't enough to cancel the whole thing, and scheduled a trip to Kalos for two weeks from then. During the fifteen days they had before leaving, Giovanni decided to buy some more furniture for the second floor. Archie and Maxie had brought their own belongings to the house, but Ghetsis and Lusamine were sleeping in mattresses on the floor, so Giovanni decided to buy them beds. For Lusamine, he spared no money, and bought her a big comfortable couple bed in a peculiar shape. Seen from the top, the bed had the shape of a square, but with three edges and a fourth of a circle instead of the fourth one. The three remaining edges served as built-in night tables, since the bed had a round mattress, which occupied only the middle portion of it. This bed was placed against two walls in Lusamine's room, with the pointy edge against the bedroom's corner. The woman was also gifted with a desk, a wardrobe, and a few new clothes.</p><p class="western">Ghetsis, on the other hand, got only a used single bed and a clothes hanger. Giovanni refused to spend money with the old man, after all, he still wanted to get rid of him, but it was indecent to deny him some basic rights such as a place to sleep. The next step was buying some furniture for the remaining rooms upstairs. Giovanni wanted to make a small bedroom for his son, even though Silver hadn't manifested the wish to visit him so far. After all, at some point, the kid would have to go spend some time with him. He also decided to make an actual guest's room next to Ghetsis' room, and bought a huge king-size bed for it, a wardrobe and a desk.</p><p class="western">There were still four rooms left, one of them would become a library, and he was going to make a gym in one of the others. He wasn't sure yet about the other two. He had planned lots of things for Silver and for his wife, but now that he divorced, those rooms were vacant. The cinema wasn't such a bad idea, but the music room seemed unnecessary, and the gaming room was out of the question. But those renovations were not gonna happen so soon, after all, he had already spent too much money with Lusamine, Ghetsis, Silver's room and the guest's room. The original plan, before his divorce, would be to have two guest rooms, but after either Ghetsis, or Lusamine, or Archie and Maxie left the mansion, he would have more than enough guest rooms, so only one was just good enough for now.</p><p class="western">Ghetsis, who by then had already given up on his plan to re-claim the master bedroom to himself, started to think about a way to regain access to his money, illegally, of course, so that he could buy himself some furniture. He tried to contact the Shadow Triad, but those fools seemed to have vanished. After a few days in complete denial, he realized his only choice would be contacting his son. But could he trust the boy? Yes, most likely... He had reasons to believe he could trust that little freak, after all, N had offered him a place at his home. Still, he thought it was better to call the brat after they came back from Kalos.</p><p class="western">The day of the trip soon arrived, and for the first time since his arrival, Giovanni left the mansion. It would be good for him to get out of that place for a while and distract himself from all that divorce thing. Lusamine, Archie and Maxie were too very excited about traveling, and Ghetsis wouldn't stop talking about the Stravinsky-inspired exposition. On their first visit, he had spent several minutes discussing with Lysandre and Sycamore about the famous ballet by Stravinsky, the Fire Bird, and whether the title referred to Moltress, Ho-oh or a mere Talonflame, and now that they would see the exposition, Ghetsis believed that question could be solved by the artist's interpretation of the piece.</p><p class="western">“I'm sure it's Ho-oh! Moltress is just a stupid flying Torchic, and a Talonflame is not even a Legendary to begin with! I'm gonna show those two fools that I'm right!”</p><p class="western">“Yes, yes, OK, Ghetsis.” replied Giovanni, “have you packed everything?”</p><p class="western">“Pack what?!” yelled the man, “I haven't got anything, you imbecile!”</p><p class="western">“What about your clothes, Ghetsis?” asked Archie.</p><p class="western">“I only have these ones!” said the man, pointing down at his cloak, and the other men felt disgusted.</p><p class="western">“This is why he stinks...” complained Giovanni, while putting his bag in the car. After a few minutes, the five of them entered the vehicle and headed to the airport, and the mansion was left empty.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Hunting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">It was Friday and Giovanni's mansion was completely empty. The alarms were all set and the doors were locked. The Pidoves and Pidgeys were asleep, it was past 1 am, the rain was falling down and the streets were desert.</p>
<p class="western">Desert, except for two beings: A large, shiny Parasect walking casually near the main square's grassy areas and a tall man with a very large head.</p>
<p class="western">“That's right, Guzma boy! Today's your lucky day!” whispered the man to himself, as he followed the big Pokémon around. “I have to say, for a while I thought it might have been a dumb idea to flee Alola, but... Now that I'ma catch this bad boy, everything will be worth it!”</p>
<p class="western">The man suddenly jumped on top of the huge bug, but the Pokémon was quicker than he expected, and dashed away in the direction of the street.</p>
<p class="western">“Shoot!” groaned the Skull Boss, before standing up and running after the Parasect. “Don't ya run away from big bad Guzma, yo!”</p>
<p class="western">After the failure involving the Aether president Lusamine and Team Skull, Guzma had thought he could just start over and live an honest life as a trainer. However, it didn't take much before that “honest life” thing became boring to him, and the former-criminal decided to try his luck some place else. With a reputation like his, it wouldn't have been easy to get international passports and leave Alola legally, and he decided to flee the Region in secret instead. A few of his friends had decided to come with him and try a new life in that other region as well, some of them intended to try living honestly abroad, but some just wanted to go back to the criminal life. Guzma himself hadn't decided yet what to do. Living in Alola was nice and everything, but now that people didn't fear him like they did before, it wasn't as cool as before. Old Hala had been helping him become a better person, but he wasn't that much interested on that anymore. Sure, he had already learned to control his anger and to be nicer to others, but that whole “character growth” thing was too boring for him. If he managed to build a new fearsome reputation on that new place and become the new strongest trainer around, that would certainly be awesome. Catching that huge, shiny Parasect would be a great start, and an amazing way to impress the girls.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, you... What are ya doin', dude?” asked Guzma, while the Parasect dug a hole in front of a huge wall. “Nah... That ain't stopping big bad Guzma!”</p>
<p class="western">The huge-headed man crawled into the hole after the bug and followed it to the other end of the tunnel. When he left the wet soil, he realized he was now in a garden, but it wasn't just any garden, it was the front-yard of a huge house.</p>
<p class="western">“Dude! Look at this place!” he exclaimed, crawling out of the muddy ground. “This big-a house is even bigger than that old mansion we took over back in Ula'ula!” The man looked around, “Welp. Where did that fat bug go, eh?”</p>
<p class="western">Guzma started searching for the Parasect in the garden, but the Pokémon seemed to have vanished. The rain was starting to bother him, and he headed to the entrance of the mansion. It was only then that he saw the Parasect again, and the bug was somehow inside the house.</p>
<p class="western">“Yo, how did you get in there, fellow?” said Guzma, scratching his head. The man looked around and noticed a medium-sized window that led to what seemed to be the kitchen, and that was partially open. The bug had probably climbed inside through there. “Ha! There we go!”</p>
<p class="western">But the Skull Boss stopped.</p>
<p class="western">“Hm... This house here seems to be totally empty! I don't see no lights on anywhere!” he said. “But a place like this one must have some sort of security system... I better try to turn every alarm off before crawling inside...”</p>
<p class="western">The man proceeded to look for the devices to turn off the houses' security. It wasn't the first time he did something like that, so he had a pretty clear idea of what to do. Besides, being inside the property was already a good start, and he could thank the Parasect for that. It didn't take much before the criminal found out how to turn off the alarms, but even an experienced criminal like himself was surprised to see how many security measures the place had. A mere amateur wouldn't have been able to handle it, he thought.</p>
<p class="western">But there was one thing not even he had predicted, which was Giovanni's personal addition to the security system. As soon as Guzma headed back to the house, he felt the ground trembling.</p>
<p class="western">“What the f-” he tried to say, but was interrupted by the cry of a huge Onix, which was heading straight to his direction from the backyard, wearing a furious expression.</p>
<p class="western">“Dude! This is new!” yelled the man, reaching for a Pokéball in his jacket's pocket. “Never mind... Ground and Rock type, eh? This hard-headed snake will be no match to my Golisopod! Beat it up, Golly!”</p>
<p class="western">But the Onix was stronger than expected. Even Golisopod's Liquidation wasn't enough to kill it in a hit, and the bug had a hard time fighting Giovanni's Pokémon. Golisopod even fled during the first part of the match, forcing Guzma to use his Masquerain for a turn. In the end, however, due to the type advantage, the bug type trainer was able to defeat the rock-type Pokémon, and the Onix fainted.</p>
<p class="western">“Oof!” exclaimed Guzma, “This dude wasn't jokin', eh? Level 84 or what? Beat me!” he giggled, “well, never mind. Guess we beat it after all, right, Golly? Great job, fella! Now come back into your Pokéball!”</p>
<p class="western">The man crawled inside the house through the window and started looking around for his prize: the shiny Parasect couldn't be far. Maybe he could even take some other stuff, like food and money, since he was there! After all, whoever owned that place was sure very rich, so they wouldn't miss it.</p>
<p class="western">“Let's see what we got here in the fridge... Ohoho! Eggs! And Mayonnaise! I can make myself a meal with these!” The Skull boss thought for a second. “Man, these people won't be gone for long if they got this stuff here in the fridge... I guess I should check if the place is really empty, just to be sure.” The man explored the house, and the more he saw of it, the more he liked it. There were two living rooms, a cellar, a pantry, an office... That place sure had everything! He then went upstairs and found the bedrooms. Even though there was no one currently in the mansion, some of them seemed clearly occupied, but some others seemed vacant. The room right next to the stairs had many plush toys, two beautiful ship models a computer, a double bed, as well as many other things. Sure someone used that place frequently. The room right in front of that one was smaller. It had a single bed, a computer and some video-game consoles. It looked like the room of a child or teen. Next to this one was what Guzma believed to be the best room in the house. It was huge! It had a king-sized bed, a television, two armchairs, the biggest wardrobe so far, a small coffee table and three windows. There was also a door leading to a restroom. Yes, that room totally belonged to the owner, thought Guzma.</p>
<p class="western">Right in front of the master bedroom's door there was a hallway, with five doors on the right side and three on the left side. All the rooms on the left side were completely empty, there was nothing, not even a piece of furniture inside of those. The last door on the right side was a huge bathroom, with both a bathtub and a shower, and the door right next to it led to another empty room.</p>
<p class="western">“Is this place new? I mean, why are there all those empty rooms here?” thought Guzma, but soon found out that the three remaining rooms were different. The one closest to the master bedroom had a huge round bed inside and some elegant pieces of furniture. The one right next to it was the exact opposite. It had nearly nothing inside, only an old single bed that seemed like it could fall apart at any minute. The last room, right in the middle of the hallway, had a king-sized bed, a desk and a wardrobe, but didn't look like it had been used recently.</p>
<p class="western">Hi suspicions were confirmed: there was really no one in the house at the moment. Still, he had visited every area of the house but hadn't managed to find the Parasect! Could it be that the bug had outsmarted him?</p>
<p class="western">The man went back downstairs. The rain outside had turned into a rainstorm, with loud thunders echoing through the silent night every one or two minutes. Guzma sighed. The card box he had found and placed under a building's balcony, in which he was planning to sleep that night, was probably completely soaked by then, if not destroyed. He looked around and started to think about spending the night there. It wasn't that bad of an idea! Sure the owners wouldn't show up on that same night! He might as well stay until he heard them arriving. After all, he missed a big place like his old Skull house...</p>
<p class="western">But first the Parasect. He had to find the Pokémon, it was the main reason why he had entered that place to begin with. How could a large bug like that have simply vanished into thin air?</p>
<p class="western">But then Guzma noticed a door he hadn't entered yet. It was a door near the bottom of the stairs. He entered the small room and saw that there was another door inside of it. “What's this? A joke? A door leading to a room with another door and that's all?” he thought, and opened the second door, which led to the garage. There, in the middle of the garage, was the shiny Parasect.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh! There you are, you sneaky little mushroom! Come battle big bad Guzma!”</p>
<p class="western">But the Parasect didn't feel like cooperating, and before Golisopod had the time to leave the Pokéball in Guzma's hand, the huge insect emitted a cloud of spores right to the man's face and ran past him, while he rubbed his irritated eyes.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, shoot, ya little son of a balm mushroom...” cried the Skull boss, temporarily blinded and trying to find the walls with his hands. “Where the heck did you go, eh?” he yelled, and then started to clumsily run back inside, tripping on several objects and bumping into the walls. His vision was coming back, but he felt drowsy. The spores from the Parasect were probably somniferous.</p>
<p class="western">He managed to walk to the kitchen door and saw the Parasect right there in front of him, but his legs didn't want to obey, and his vision was once again fading. He was too sleepy to go on. “Shoot...” he thought, as he fell down on the kitchen floor, and the last thing he saw before falling asleep was the huge shiny Parasect leaving through the same window he had used to enter.</p>
<p class="western">When Guzma woke up, it was nearly 4 am. He immediately remembered the Parasect, and even looked outside to find out if the bug was still in the garden, but it was in vain. There was no sight of the bug, and it was probably very far away by then. The man felt moody. He stretched his muscles and thought about what to do next. Well, he didn't have any objective and it was 4 am. That was usually the time he went to sleep, and the man didn't feel like doing anything at that moment. Besides, it was still raining, although not as much as before, and he didn't want to go back outside just yet. Finally, the man was also hungry. Yes, that decided it! He was going to stay in that mansion.</p>
<p class="western">The Alolan trainer opened the fridge and grabbed some eggs, which he attempted to fry, but ended up burning the edges and leaving the middle way too raw. He wasn't really good at cooking. After throwing away those burnt eggs, he grabbed the pot of mayonnaise and headed to the pantry to look for some snacks. He found some chips and instant noodles, and bought them all to the couch in the living room, where he ate them with mayo, including the noodles, that he ate raw. After eating a bunch, the man headed upstairs. In one of the rooms he had found an old mattress, which he didn't know had been used by Lusamine before. He grabbed it and placed it on the floor in one of the vacant rooms. That would be a good enough place to sleep, and still he'd be rather safe. When the owners arrived, they wouldn't enter that room so soon, and he would have time to climb out of the window and leave the house.</p>
<p class="western">Guzma grabbed his phone and started watching some series and cartoons until he fell asleep around 6 am.</p>
<p class="western"> </p>
<p class="western">“Thanks a lot for everything, Lysandre!” said Maxie, kissing his friend on the cheek, “we had a lovely time here in Kalos!”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, no need to thank me, sweetheart! I'm so glad you came!”</p>
<p class="western">“Yes, it was a good idea to come!” said Giovanni, “I guess I needed this...”</p>
<p class="western">“The exhibition was incredible!” added Ghetsis, who was in a surprisingly good mood, “I'm so glad I got these music sheets from the museum store! Now I'm gonna learn the Fire Bird!”</p>
<p class="western">“With what money exactly did you buy these, Ghetsis?” asked Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Who said anything about buying? I said I <em>got</em> it!” he laughed, and Maxie sighed.</p>
<p class="western">After saying goodbye to Lysandre, the five of them entered the regional airport. After a few hours, they were already in Giovanni's car again, heading to the mansion, and all of them, even Ghetsis, were excited about getting home.</p>
<p class="western">“I guess this trip was just what I needed after all...” mentioned Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Yes, it's good to get away from routine sometimes...” replied Maxie, and Ghetsis agreed.</p>
<p class="western">“It had been a while I didn't leave that darn mansion!” he said, “You and Archie still leave sometimes, to go to the market and whatever... But I'm locked in there like a prisoner!”</p>
<p class="western">“You can leave whenever you please, Ghetsis...” said Giovanni, pressing a button on his remote control to open the gates, but the old man ignored the innuendo.</p>
<p class="western">“Still, it feels good to come back home...” said Archie, and then corrected himself, “I mean... uh... Not like we live here exactly but... You know...”</p>
<p class="western">“Ah, don't worry about this kind of details, you are staying here for now, so you can call it 'home'...” replied the house owner, “just don't be like Ghetsis and start calling this place your house, because this is <em>my </em>house solely, and no one else's!”</p>
<p class="western">“Bah!” said the green-haired man, “when I said it was my home you had a fit!”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh... Well, uh... I'm not a native speaker, OK?! House, home... The words are all similar, I probably mixed them up!” answered Giovanni, looking away.</p>
<p class="western">“The six of us live here like a family, this is why we can call it home...” said Lusamine.</p>
<p class="western">“No, Lusamine, that's not...” began to say Maxie, but Ghetsis interrupted him.</p>
<p class="western">“Six?” he said, “Come on! Don't you even know how to count, lady?”</p>
<p class="western">“She's probably including her Nihilego friend, Ghetsis...” said Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh!” exclaimed Lusamine, “That's right! Seven then!”</p>
<p class="western">The other ones exchanged glances, but proceeded to ignore. They knew Lusamine functioned in different ways and would often say weird things like that. After going up to their bedrooms and unpacking everything, Maxie headed down to the kitchen and started making dinner, while the others headed to the living room. Giovanni turned on the television and Archie joined him to watch it, while Lusamine played with a wooden stick she had found in the garden. Meanwhile, Ghetsis went to the other room to use the telephone.</p>
<p class="western">“Hm... this is weird.” said Maxie, entering the living room while scratching the nape of his neck, “I was pretty sure we had twelve cans of tomato sauce in the pantry, but I only found seven...”.</p>
<p class="western">“Hm...” replied Giovanni, “maybe you mixed them up with the <em>pomodori pelati </em>cans that I bought last week...”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, no, Giovanni” replied the red-haired man, “The peeled tomatoes are also there, I remember we had twelve cans of tomato sauce. Two crates of six, to be more precise...”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, this is odd, but seven is enough for now, we just came back from our trip, so let's not make a fuss already because of some cans of sauce. Lusamine must have hidden them or something...”</p>
<p class="western">“But Lusamine never goes to the pantry. She says she's scared of the Rainbow Kricketot that lives there or something similar...” replied Maxie, “but well... I suppose she's not that consistent in her actions anyway... It may have been her.”</p>
<p class="western">“Giovanni...” said Ghetsis, coming back to the living room, “I called my idiotic son and he's coming here next week for a few days!”</p>
<p class="western">“What?” asked Giovanni, “But Lysandre will come next week for another visit! He will stay for a few days as well... and I'm going to offer him the guest room, so where do you plan to put your son, eh? In the garage?”</p>
<p class="western">“That wouldn't be such a bad idea...” said Ghetsis, “but the brat can sleep in the floor in my room! Who cares about him anyway? I just need his help to get my stuff back!”</p>
<p class="western">“Your stuff?” asked Maxie.</p>
<p class="western">“Yes, my stuff! What did you think? That I had no belongings?! I used to have a palace back in Unova, in case you don't know!” he replied, irritated. “Well... It was in my son's name actually but whatever... It's only a bunch of ruins now anyway! But I used to have lots of stuff!”</p>
<p class="western">“OK, OK, gee...” answered Maxie, turning around and heading back to the kitchen, “What an unpleasant person... I just asked a question...” he kept saying as he started to cook the sauce for the <em>cannelloni</em>. “Hm... This is so odd...” he stated, grabbing the olive oil bottle, “I'm sure this bottle had a lot more oil inside before we left to Kalos... It's as if someone had been using our kitchen while we were gone...”, he opened the fridge and started checking on everything. “Only two eggs... We had more eggs than that as well!” he thought, “and the mayonnaise pot is almost empty!”</p>
<p class="western">Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from upstairs that startled him. It sounded like something, or someone, had just fallen down on the second floor. But the kitchen was right under Giovanni's room, and Giovanni was in the living room at that very moment, as well as Archie, Ghetsis and Lusamine. The former Magma boss trembled a little and went to the living room to check if anyone had gone upstairs, but all of his housemates were still there, in the very same place as before. Giovanni and Ghetsis were still discussing about the visitors, Archie was still watching TV and Lusamine was sitting on the floor in front of them, playing with her stick.</p>
<p class="western">Maxie swallowed hard and went back to the kitchen to grab a knife. “OK,” he thought, “no panic. It's probably some wild Pokémon that came through the window. I'm gonna take this knife with me and grab my strongest Pokémon... If it's a guy and he attacks me, I can defend myself... If he wants to battle, I can win easily... And if it's a Pokémon, I can catch it... Everything will be just fine...”</p>
<p class="western">He went to the living room.</p>
<p class="western">“Archie, honey...” he said, placing the knife in his back pocket, “I heard a noise upstairs so I'm just gonna check out what's happening...”</p>
<p class="western">“Okay!” replied Archie, not realizing his partner's tension.</p>
<p class="western">“A noise, you said?” asked Giovanni, “what kind of noise?”</p>
<p class="western">“I'm not sure, if sounded like something falling on the floor upstairs...”</p>
<p class="western">“I'd better go with you” said the owner, standing up. “Let me just check something first...”</p>
<p class="western">Giovanni left the house while Maxie waited in the living room with the others. He arrived to the backyard expecting to find his Onix, but it wasn't where he had left him.</p>
<p class="western">“Strange...” thought Giovanni, “He's usually very well behaved... He wouldn't have left unless someone invaded the house...”</p>
<p class="western">The Rocket Leader went to the front-yard and found his Onix, seemingly hurt, lying near a hole on the ground.</p>
<p class="western">“Gianpiero! What happened?” he said, rushing to the Pokémon and giving it a Full Restore.</p>
<p class="western">The Onix recovered from its exhaustion and stood up, then started pointing with its head at the big hole on the ground.</p>
<p class="western">“Hm... <em>maledizione...” </em>said the man, looking inside of the hole, “this looks like it leads outside... I should tell the others to leave the house, seems like we may have an intruder after all!” he looked at the Pokémon “And you need some rest now, you fought to protect the house like I told you to! You're a good boy, Gianpiero...”</p>
<p class="western">After keeping his Onix in a Pokéball, Giovanni rushed back to the house and ordered everyone else to leave the mansion and wait together in front of the main gate, but Maxie insisted on going upstairs with him so that they could help one another. Besides his battle party, Giovanni also picked up an old baseball bat that was in the garage and took it with him, in case the intruder attacked with a weapon.</p>
<p class="western">They went upstairs slowly and tried to make little to no noise. After glancing back and forth several times to make sure they were not being followed, the two men stopped in front of Giovanni's room and whispered to one another.</p>
<p class="western">“I heard the noise coming from here...” said Maxie, “The intruder must be inside...”</p>
<p class="western">“OK...” said Giovanni, “You open the door and I'll go in with the bat raised, then you follow right after with a Pokéball ready...” he continued. “One... two... three... Go!”</p>
<p class="western">The two men entered the room yelling for no reason. Before even looking at what was inside, Maxie closed both his eyes in fear, while Giovanni kept turning his head to all sides and swinging the bat aimlessly. They were pretty sure that they were about to be attacked by a maniacal murderer or something similar, but instead, nothing happened. In fact, there wasn't a man inside the room, or any person of any gender. Inside the room there was only one living being, and it was a Pokémon.</p>
<p class="western">“A... A Golisopod?” exclaimed Giovanni, and Maxie opened his eyes, confused.</p>
<p class="western">“What?” he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes, but it was really that. Inside the room, there was a Golisopod. “Wh-where did that come from?!” asked Maxie picking up another Pokéball, since his Camerupt didn't seem like the best option for that battle.</p>
<p class="western">“I... I don't know...” said Giovanni, “There was a hole in the garden, but... There shouldn't be wild Golisopods around here!”</p>
<p class="western">The two men kept staring at the huge bug, while it tried to climb out of the window, but it was too big to fit through it. Maxie looked around just to be sure they weren't missing anything, and saw that Giovanni's bag was knocked down on the floor.</p>
<p class="western">“It must have dropped your bag on the floor... This must have been the noise I heard.” said Maxie.</p>
<p class="western">“Yes. Well, never mind...” replied Giovanni, “let's catch this thing.”</p>
<p class="western">“Right!” agreed the other man, dragging his Crobat out of its Pokéball. “Jasper, use Brave Bird!” he said, and the Pokémon obeyed.</p>
<p class="western">“I'll have my Nidoqueen help! Use Poison Jab, Belladonna!”</p>
<p class="western">The two Pokémon attacked the Golisopod, who tried desperately to flee, but couldn't. Giovanni, seeing that the Pokémon was weak, grabbed an Ultra Ball and threw it, but the Golisopod escaped easily.</p>
<p class="western">“What?” said the Rocket leader, trying again, but his next Pokéball failed once more.</p>
<p class="western">“Maybe it already has an owner...” said Maxie, “After all, it's a high-level Pokémon and you said it yourself that there are no wild Golisopods around here...”</p>
<p class="western">“In that case, let's just finish it.” said Giovanni, “We can look for its owner later on. Nidoqueen, use Throat Chop.”</p>
<p class="western">The Pokémon attacked and the Golisopod didn't resist. It fainted, falling near the armchairs in Giovanni's room and knocking over a vase in the process. The two men kept their Pokémon and walked in the Golisopod's direction.</p>
<p class="western">“Well. Let's get this thing out of my room...” said Giovanni, “We can make some missing posters later and spread them around the block or something, I don't know... For now, let's put this bug in the garage. I'm gonna call someone to close that hole in the garden too...”</p>
<p class="western">“Right”, replied Maxie, “Guess now we know who ate all the tomato sauce too...”, and the two men started dragging the huge bug outside of the master bedroom.</p>
<p class="western">Outside, squatting on top of the roof, Guzma scratched his head, thinking about how to retrieve his Golisopod from inside the house. He hadn't heard what the men said, but he had heard the battle... After hearing that the owners had arrived, he had hidden in the bathroom, while Giovanni left his bag in his room. He was about to leave the house without being noticed, but while trying to climb outside of the window, his Pokéball had accidentally opened, and Golisopod was dragged out. Now he was outside, but his beloved companion was still in there.</p>
<p class="western">“Shoot!” exclaimed the man.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Gathering</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">“I'm very excited about meeting your son, Ghetsis!” said Lysandre, taking a sip of his tea, “Specially if he's just as knowledgeable in art as you are!”</p><p class="western">It was the second day since Lysandre arrived at the mansion and Ghetsis' son should arrive around lunch time. Professor Sycamore hadn't come this time, because he had some research to do, but was planning to show up during the weekend for a brief visit before going back to Kalos with his partner.</p><p class="western">“Oh, no... Trust me, you don't wanna meet that brat!” said Ghetsis, “he's a complete disaster! And knows nothing of anything! Actually, he won't even stay much... Just one night, maybe two... So I recommend you all just ignore him!” said the old man, while chewing some biscuits.</p><p class="western">“Well, I may, if he's as lovely as his father...” said Maxie, almost inaudibly, and Archie chuckled, but he was the only one who had heard it. Maxie raised his voice and turned to Lysandre, “Did you sleep well, Lysie?” he asked, smiling.</p><p class="western">“Oh, yes, wonderfully so! This place is very comfortable!” replied the man.</p><p class="western">“Oh, good...” said Maxie, “I was afraid you might have heard some weird noises or something similar. It's been a while we've been hearing some noises sometimes, Giovanni believes we may be having trouble with Pokémon living inside the walls or on the roof or something...”</p><p class="western">“Yes,” said the Rocket Leader, “last week we found a huge Golisopod in my room, can you believe it?”</p><p class="western">“Oh?!” exclaimed the guest.</p><p class="western">“We put it in the garage and were planning to spread posters around the block about the missing Pokémon... But three days ago, it just vanished during the night!” continued Giovanni.</p><p class="western">“Yes, we don't know if it has anything to do with the noises... But what if it had babies? A bunch of Wimpods, crawling around inside our house... These guys are quick to run and hide, we might miss them easily!” Added Maxie, and Lysandre agreed.</p><p class="western">“Oh, yes. Pokémon can be very smart sometimes, even more than us!” he giggled, “But I heard nothing, darlings. I slept like a baby!”</p><p class="western">“Good, good...” replied Giovanni, “Let's hope we don't have any more problems with these noises...”</p><p class="western">“Well!” said Maxie, standing up, “I'm going to make lunch. Ghetsis' son must be arriving anytime soon, and we don't want to keep the young man hungry.”</p><p class="western">“Speak for yourself!” yelled Ghetsis, “I'd leave him to starve without a doubt!”</p><p class="western">Lysandre laughed, “Oh, Ghetsis! Such a wicked sense of humor!”</p><p class="western">“I'm not joking!” protested the man, but Lysandre seemed to ignore him. He stood up and stroked his own hair to put it in place, “well, well... I'm going to touch up my make up before your son arrives, Ghetsis. I don't want to be looking like a Garbodor in front of new people!”</p><p class="western">The Flare Boss went upstairs while Archie and Lusamine set the table. He headed to the bathroom and washed his hands, then proceeded to check himself on the mirror. He grabbed his make up case and opened it, then started to fix what he considered flaws on his eyeliner and mascara. Of course, he couldn't ignore the fact that his hair was losing shape, so he just had to spend a few minutes fixing that too. In the end, it took him about twenty minutes in front of the mirror until he thought he looked good enough.</p><p class="western">The tall man left the bathroom and was about to go back downstairs when he heard a laughter coming from a room to his right.</p><p class="western">It was weird, considering Giovanni had told him that those rooms were all vacant. Lysandre glanced around a few times and then gave in to his curiosity. He grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Inside a nearly empty room, sitting on an old mattress on the floor, was a man he had never seen before, who seemed to be around ten years younger than himself. The man was staring at him wide-eyed and said nothing for several seconds.</p><p class="western">“Oh! Hello! It's such a pleasure to meet you!” said Lysandre, and the other man stood up, confused.</p><p class="western">“Eh, heh...” he babbled.</p><p class="western">“I'm sorry I missed your arrival, I was in the toilet, touching up my make up! Oh, glad I did it just in time!” continued Lysandre, “if you had arrived a few minutes earlier, you might have caught me off guard! I'd be so embarrassed!”</p><p class="western">“Uh.... y-yeah, right?” said the man, trying to sound natural.</p><p class="western">“But I have to say, you must have taken after your mother, right?”</p><p class="western">“Uh... I guess I... Uh...”</p><p class="western">“Sorry, darling, I should have asked already. What's your name?”</p><p class="western">“Well... Guzma” replied the man, and then smiled and offered his hand for a handshake. He had no clue what was going on there, but since that man wasn't angry or anything, it was better to play along.</p><p class="western">Since that day, a week before, when his Golisopod got stuck in Giovanni's room, Guzma had been wandering around the mansion. He would spend most of the time sleeping on the roof, and during the night he would crawl in through the bathroom window to grab food and drink some water. At first, he would enter the house only once or twice a day, mostly between 3 and 5 am. However, as time passed, he managed to understand at what times exactly it was safe to enter the mansion, and which rooms were vacant. He begun to spend more and more time inside the mansion, mostly in the room next to the restroom, until one day he felt confident enough to explore the house and look for Golisopod.</p><p class="western">After a while looking for it, he found out that Golisopod was being kept in the garage, and finally retrieved it into its Pokéball. From that point on, he could have simply left, that's true... But he had gotten so used to staying in that place... He had a mattress and free food, and there he was protected from the rain... What else could he ask for? He decided to stay for a bit longer, after all, the house was so huge that no one seemed to realize there was another person walking around inside of it.</p><p class="western">Since then, three more days had passed, during which Guzma was living inside the house without anyone else knowing of his presence, except for some noises they heard every now and then. Every night, Guzma thought to himself “just one more day... I can leave tomorrow...”, but each time he felt less and less confident about his own words. If he were a little bit more honest to himself, he would have already admitted that he didn't have any intention of ever leaving that mansion, unless he got kicked out.</p><p class="western">“Guzma! Oh, what an interesting name!” replied Lysandre, while Guzma kept staring at him, unable to believe how tall he was. “I see what you did there, Ghetsis, Guzma... All names with G! Was you mother's name with G as well?”</p><p class="western">“Uhhhm... Y-yeah, dude! You sure are smart, eh? Most people don't get it so quickly!” giggled the intruder, “her name was Giulliana! But with a G! Neat, right?”</p><p class="western">Lysandre laughed, “Oh, yes, <em>magnifique</em>! I love this name!”, he held Guzma by the arm, “Oh, well, let's go downstairs, dear! Lunch must be almost ready!”</p><p class="western">“Uh! Y-yeah, sure, just...” the other man felt slightly nervous. He couldn't risk going downstairs and meeting everyone else in the house. After all, someone would end up realizing he wasn't anyone's son or anything similar. “I just need to wash my hands first, so... You go without me! I'll be there in a sec!”</p><p class="western">Before the tall man could say a word, Guzma quickly ran to the restroom and closed the door behind him. “Shoot!” he thought, “why can't I control my laughter? I shouldn't be watching those stand up vids in here during the day anyways, I should've known... Shoot... What the heck do I do now? I gotta leave this house before the other folks catch me!”</p><p class="western">Meanwhile, outside, Lysandre crossed his arms, smiling. “Oh, I should be polite and wait for him!” he thought.</p><p class="western">After less than a minute, Maxie showed up from the stairs.</p><p class="western">“Lysandre, what's taking you so long? Ghetsis' son has arrived already, we're just waiting for you...”</p><p class="western">“Oh, yes! He's adorable!” said Lysandre, “But I was really surprised at how different he is from his father!”</p><p class="western">For a few moments, Maxie didn't reply.</p><p class="western">“Wh- But... When did you see him?”</p><p class="western">“Well, just now, silly! We've even talked a little!”</p><p class="western">“But-!”</p><p class="western">“He's in the toilet right now, he said he was going to wash his hands and I thought I should wait for him!”</p><p class="western">Maxie was wide-eyed and had his mouth open. He swallowed hard and shook his head before replying.</p><p class="western">“Lysandre, that's... impossible!”</p><p class="western">“What do you mean, dear? Why?”</p><p class="western">“Because the boy was down there with us all the time! In fact, he is sitting by the table with the others right now!”</p><p class="western">Lysandre stopped smiling and widened his eyes as well.</p><p class="western">“Oh, darling... Are you sure he didn't come upstairs while you weren't looking?”</p><p class="western">“I'm pretty sure, Lysie.. But just so that we can make everything clear... What did the person you talked to look like?”</p><p class="western">“Well, he was younger than me, and his skin was darker than mine, he had white wavy hair and dark gray eyes!”</p><p class="western">At that very second, Maxie felt a shiver down his spine, he grabbed Lysandre's hand and pulled him further from the toilet.</p><p class="western">“Lysandre, that was not Ghetsis' son!” he said, whispering.</p><p class="western">“Oh, dear me! What do you mean?” replied the other man, now worried.</p><p class="western">“Ghetsis' son has long green hair and bluish eyes! And he's down there!”</p><p class="western">The Flare Boss gasped and covered his mouth with his hands.</p><p class="western">“Who was that man, then?!” he asked.</p><p class="western">“I don't know!” replied Maxie.</p><p class="western">The two men held each other by the arms while staring at the bathroom door for a few seconds. Maxie had started to shake a little bit and Lysandre was feeling very uneasy.</p><p class="western">“Lysie, go downstairs and call Giovanni! I'm going to stay here and keep watching the door!”</p><p class="western">Lysandre agreed, but didn't act exactly as he was told. Instead of going down and calling Giovanni, the man ran down the stairs calling for help in complete despair, startling every other person in the house. Soon, everyone, including Ghetsis' real son and even Lusamine, stood up from the table and started going after the Flare Boss.</p><p class="western">“There's this man, oh my! A man in the restroom! I thought he was Ghetsis' son, but now Maxie told me it's not him, so we don't know who he is!!” explained Lysandre while all the others followed him upstairs. Archie soon rushed to his partner's side and asked him if he was OK, and Maxie joined Lysandre in the explanation.</p><p class="western">“I'm fine, but there's a stranger in the house! Lysandre met him and now he's in the restroom! I don't know what to do!”</p><p class="western">“What to do?” yelled Ghetsis, pushing everyone else aside and stepping forward towards the toilet door, “I'll tell you what to do! Let's get in there and get rid of this little sneaky intruder! N, did you happen to bring my spear?”</p><p class="western">“Of course not, dad...” replied N, slightly worried about both their situation and his father's sanity, “Are you sure it's a good idea to simply go in and face this stranger? What if he has a knife or really strong Pokémon?”</p><p class="western">“No matter how strong his Pokémon may be, he won't get to defeat all of us!” stated Giovanni, trying to sound brave. “Maxie, Archie, Lysandre, grab your Pokéballs! We're going to do as Ghetsis said, surprisingly...”</p><p class="western">The others obeyed, while N, his father and Lusamine, who didn't have any Pokémon with them, stepped back.</p><p class="western">“I'm going to kick this door open for you!” said Ghetsis, but N held him back.</p><p class="western">“There's no need, Ghetsis! I have the keys! It's my house, remember?” replied the Rocket Leader, taking a bunch of keys from his pocket and approaching the door while holding a Pokéball in his other hand.</p><p class="western">“Ready?” he asked, and the others nodded.</p><p class="western">The man opened the door and drew out a Kangaskhan while yelling “Hands up! We've got strong Pokémon with us and we're not gonna hesit...”</p><p class="western">But he couldn't finish his threat. Not because he was interrupted or stopped by anything, but because what he saw was such an anticlimax that he felt no need to proceed.</p><p class="western">Before them, hanging on the tall window in the shower box, was the intruder, with the upper half of his body outside of the house, and his lower half still inside. He seemed stuck, for the opening was too small, but his feet couldn't reach the floor from up there, so he could neither pull himself back in nor push himself out.</p><p class="western">“Shoot...” they heard the man say, and a few seconds of silence followed.</p><p class="western">“You know, boyo... That window on the left, near the sink, is much bigger than this one. And closer to the floor...” said Archie, “I don't think you'd have been stuck there!”</p><p class="western">“Archie!” censured Maxie.</p><p class="western">“Yo, I know that, I ain't dumb!” replied the man hanging on the window, “but that stupid window wouldn't open! No offense to your windows, like... That's actually good for y'all, it's hard to get in the house and all.”</p><p class="western">Giovanni drew his Kangaskhan into his Pokéball back again and sighed.</p><p class="western">“Oh, dear...” said Lysandre, “how did you even get up there?”</p><p class="western">“I don't think that matters” said Maxie, “There are a few more important questions to be asked right now... For instance... Who is this man, what is he doing here and how did he get inside?”</p><p class="western">Meanwhile, N, Lusamine and Ghetsis approached the group from behind and started looking at the man hanging on the bathroom window.</p><p class="western">“Yo, I can tell you all that, just... Can ya folks get me outta here first?” replied the man, “my tummy is hurtin' from being in this position, y'know...”</p><p class="western">Giovanni, who was still too perplexed to say anything, sighed once more before asking Archie and Maxie to help the man down. After a few minutes, Guzma was already inside again, sitting on the restroom floor, and Giovanni, Archie, Maxie and Lysandre formed a circle around him.</p><p class="western">“So...?” asked Giovanni, crossing his arms.</p><p class="western">“Uh... Thanks?!” replied Guzma, scratching the nape of his neck and proceeding to smile.</p><p class="western">“Thanks?!” yelled the owner of the house, “are you serious?! That's what you have to say?”</p><p class="western">“Yo, like... Thanks for getting me outta the window, right?” answered Guzma, while standing up and starting to walk away, “Now, if y'all don't mind, I'ma get out of this place and...”</p><p class="western">“Oh, no, not yet!” said Giovanni, grabbing his arm and pulling him back, “first you're going to explain what you were doing inside my house!”</p><p class="western">“Y-... Uh... Your house, eh?” babbled the intruder, “sure, dude, I'll tell ya! It's a pretty neat house, by the way, like... Cool mansion and...” he grabbed a bar of soap “Cool stuff here inside...”</p><p class="western">“Thanks!” said Archie, proudly, but Giovanni lifted his hand in front of him as a sign for him to stay in silence.</p><p class="western">“Do not change the subject!” said the Rocket Leader, angry, “What were you doing in here?!”</p><p class="western">“Yo, calm down... Chill! No need to be so angry, we're all friendly in here, right?”</p><p class="western">“Wrong!” replied Giovanni.</p><p class="western">“I'm friendly...” said Lusamine from the back and Giovanni turned to her with a mad expression on his face. Guzma frowned a bit, thinking that voice was familiar.</p><p class="western">“Lusamine, don't make this even harder than it already is!”</p><p class="western">“Wait! L... Lusamine?” asked Guzma, confused and stretched his neck trying to look behind the other men.</p><p class="western">“Hi, Guzma!” she said, waving at him, as soon as he managed to spot her, “how are you doing?”</p><p class="western">His jaw dropped, and everyone else in the room exchanged confused glances.</p><p class="western">“Yo, like... What the actual heck?!” he exclaimed, glancing around looking for a camera, thinking that might be some kind of prank. “What are you doing here, Lusamine?!”</p><p class="western">“I live here now!” she said, “And soon you will too...”</p><p class="western">“Hold on, hold on!” said Giovanni, “what's the meaning of this?! You two know each other?”</p><p class="western">“What a coincidence, eh?” exclaimed Archie, happily, but his partner interfered.</p><p class="western">“They probably don't know each other...” said Maxie, “Lusamine is always making things up, she's very creative... And this guy must be just playing along, like he did to Lysandre.”</p><p class="western">“I would agree, Maxie, but...” said the Flare Boss, “he had told me earlier that his name is Guzma... And that's just what Lusamine called him!”</p><p class="western">“That's because it's his name...” replied the woman.</p><p class="western">“Yeah, bro! It's my name! And yeah, we know each other, like... From back in Alola!”</p><p class="western">“Guzma even worked for me for a while, to help me find my best friend!”</p><p class="western">“Yeah, bro, to help h- wait, what?” said the intruder.</p><p class="western">“Nihilego...” whispered Lusamine, staring deep into Guzma's eyes while still smiling, and the man stepped back.</p><p class="western">“Yo, girl's really gone bonkers, eh?” he told Giovanni, and the Rocket Leader didn't reply. He actually had no idea of how to reply.</p><p class="western">“So... Lusamine” said Maxie, “could you maybe explain to us what this guy is doing in here?”</p><p class="western">“No...” she said, “I don't know. Once he got his Golisopod back, he should have left. But he stayed... I don't know the reason.”</p><p class="western">“His... Golisopod?” asked Giovanni, “So that Golisopod in my room belonged to you?!”</p><p class="western">“Yeah! That's right!” replied Guzma, “and that's why I'm here, get it?! Because I wanted my Golly back! So, yeah, I entered your house to retrieve my Pokémon and now I'm going away, so...”</p><p class="western">“No, no, no!” said Giovanni, “that makes no sense! You got your Golisopod three days ago! Why are you still here?”</p><p class="western">“Like Lusamine said,” continued Archie, “you have stayed for a reason, we just don't know why.”</p><p class="western">Guzma clenched his teeth nervously. He had to think about some excuse quickly.</p><p class="western">“Well... I...” he said, looking away, and then suddenly had an idea. “All right! All right!” he said, “you folks are too smart for me! You got me!”</p><p class="western">“What do you mean?” asked Maxie.</p><p class="western">“I was here because I was lookin' for Lusamine! I actually knew she was here all along, and I was watching her without her knowin'! I was spyin' on her!”</p><p class="western">“What?!” exclaimed Giovanni while Lysandre covered his mouth and nearly fainted, “What do you mean? What for?!”</p><p class="western">“What for?! Well... I had to see if she was OK! Her kids are worried!”</p><p class="western">“Oh... So Lusamine really does have kids...” commented Archie.</p><p class="western">“And you know her kids?” asked Maxie.</p><p class="western">“Dude, if I know 'em?! Her son, little Gladion, the boy joined my Team back there in Alola for a while, like... Dude's basically part of my family now! Isn't that right, Lusie?”</p><p class="western">“Gladion ran away from home and met Guzma while living in the streets” said the woman, still inexplicably smiling, “but he came back home after my plan to capture the Beasts failed. Now he lives with his grandfather and Lillie.”</p><p class="western">“Yo, yeah! That's right! And they are... worried... Because you're all alone here and all, and because they miss you and everything! Got it?”</p><p class="western">“I understand. After all, they haven't seen me since I escaped the Space Hospital. They don't know where I am...”</p><p class="western">“Wait, wait, please! This is way too much information!” exclaimed the Rocket Leader, “All right... Lusamine, your children had put you in a hospital and you escaped and came to my house? And your children don't know where you are so you are basically missing?! Is that it?”</p><p class="western">“Yes!” she said.</p><p class="western">“And you didn't bother to mention any of that?” he asked, angry.</p><p class="western">“I did mention it. On the first day in fact... But you didn't listen.”</p><p class="western">“I'm so lost...” whispered N to his father and the old man shrugged.</p><p class="western">“We're all lost.” added Maxie, who had heard the comment, “This man has been spying on us for days... It's so creepy to think about it!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, so that's why you had been hearing noises!” said Lysandre.</p><p class="western">“But who are you?!” Giovanni asked the intruder, “a detective, or a cop or something? What gives you the right to invade my house and spy on my housemates!?”</p><p class="western">“Well, uh...” said Guzma, but Lusamine interrupted him.</p><p class="western">“Guzma was the leader of a criminal group that helped me long ago... He has invaded mansions before! So he knows both how to break into places and how to break the law without being caught!”</p><p class="western">“Yo, Lusie, don't ya wanna go back to talkin' nonsense? I liked it better when you didn't give away all the info about me like that!” complained the Skull Boss.</p><p class="western">“So you're a former criminal like us?” asked Archie.</p><p class="western">“Yo, what do you mean 'like us'?” asked the intruder.</p><p class="western">“He's not a 'former' criminal, he's a criminal!” replied Giovanni, “He broke into my house, this is illegal!”</p><p class="western">“So what?! Aren't you the leader of the Mafia?!” yelled Ghetsis.</p><p class="western">“What?!” asked N, who wasn't exactly aware of the criminal record of the other people in that house.</p><p class="western">“And I've founded an organization of my own as well: Team Flare! I can't say we've never broken any laws, so I suppose we're all on the same boat here!” giggled Lysandre.</p><p class="western">“Yo...” said Guzma, now slightly confused himself, “You guys are, like... a buncha criminals livin' together?”</p><p class="western">“Basically...” said Giovanni.</p><p class="western">“Well, not all of us! Me and Archie are <em>former</em> criminals, as he said a while back. And we were supposed not to get involved with crime again, but I guess it didn't go exactly as expected...” added Maxie.</p><p class="western">“And Lusamine is a criminal as well then?” asked Archie.</p><p class="western">“Hah!” laughed Guzma, “Are you kiddin'? Dont'cha guys know who Lusie is?”</p><p class="western">The other men exchanged glances and then shook their heads.</p><p class="western">“Dudes, what the heck!?” continued the man, “Lusie is like... Stinkin' rich! She was the President of one of the biggest things back there in Alola, like... A company or whatever, I don't know. But anyways, this woman is the real deal! She's powerful and used all her stuff to break, like, what? A bazillion laws or whatever?”</p><p class="western">Everyone else in the room was speechless except for Lusamine herself.</p><p class="western">“Well... We've got a lot to unpack, uh?” said Archie, playfully.</p><p class="western">“Look... I don't care.” said Giovanni. “If Lusamine is a criminal, that's none of my business! It's not like any of us will judge her! And if her children are worried about her, then tell them to come here visit her like Ghetsis' son just did, all right?! No one's gonna kick them out!”</p><p class="western">“Oh, y-yeah, sure... I'll tell them!” said Guzma.</p><p class="western">“But you get the heck out of my house and don't come back, am I clear?!”</p><p class="western">“Yo, calm down, dude, I was just tryin' to help a few kids and their mother! Is that really so bad?”</p><p class="western">“It is if you broke into my house for that! So get out!”</p><p class="western">“Sheesh, all right! I'm leavin', don't worry...”</p><p class="western">“Oh, Giovanni...” said Lysandre, “Don't be so mean. He seems like a nice guy after all, and he had a good reason to come inside!”</p><p class="western">“Yeah!” agreed Guzma.</p><p class="western">“Trust me, Lysandre, if he didn't have a good reason, I'd ask one of my men to get rid of him for good! I'm being nice to him by merely kicking him out!” he turned to the intruder again, “Now be gone! And if I catch you breaking into my house again, you will sleep with the fish!”</p><p class="western">“What's wrong with the fish?” whispered Archie to his partner.</p><p class="western">“It means he will die...” answered Maxie, nervous.</p><p class="western">“The fish will kill him?!” exclaimed Archie.</p><p class="western">“Oh, for crying out loud! How dumb can you be, Archibald?!” yelled Giovanni.</p><p class="western">“Anyway!” said Guzma, “I got the message, Giovanni! Don't worry! Now that I know that Lusamine is in good hands, I'ma head out and not come back!”</p><p class="western">“Good hands?” whispered N, “Just found out that everyone here is a criminal!...”</p><p class="western">“Shut up, N! Now let's go back down and get this over with! Then we can finally have lunch!” said Ghetsis.</p><p class="western">The group of people went down the stairs, keeping their eyes on Guzma to make sure he wouldn't try anything funny.</p><p class="western">“Yo, dudes... That food smells good, eh?”</p><p class="western">“Yes, and it's not for you!” replied Giovanni. “There's the door! Good bye!”</p><p class="western">“Uh... OK...” said the intruder, “Yo, just a small question, though! Lusie here, she's my pal! Ain't it, Lusie?”</p><p class="western">“Sure!” said Lusamine, smiling.</p><p class="western">“Yeah, so... Can I show up to visit sometimes, like... To see my pal here? I missed her!”</p><p class="western">Giovanni frowned and looked at his housemates, who seemed to agree with Guzma's request.</p><p class="western">“Fine. You may come visit her, through the door, that is, like a normal guest! But don't show up too often! Now go!”</p><p class="western">“OK, goin'! Good bye! Have a good lunch, folks! Nice to meet y'all! Bye Lusie! See ya!”</p><p class="western">“Bye!” she replied.</p><p class="western">“Good bye, Guzma!” said Lysandre.</p><p class="western">“Heh! Nice dude!” commented Archie.</p><p class="western">“Honey, he broke into Giovanni's house...” replied Maxie.</p><p class="western">“Ugh, let's just stop talking about this, OK? I'm hungry... Let's eat already.” said Giovanni, sitting down.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Tragedy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">“Ugh!” exclaimed Giovanni, without taking his eyes off the newspaper in his hands, “I liked it better when Ghetsis didn't have anything in his room! Now he plays that stupid organ all day long!”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, it could be worse...” replied Maxie, “at least he's good at it.”</p>
<p class="western">“Bah! What's the point of playing well if all he plays are those modern and contemporary pieces... A bunch of noise!”</p>
<p class="western">“I don't like it either...” said Maxie, “but I prefer having him occupied by playing his organ than down here annoying us!”</p>
<p class="western">“Maxie's right, Gio-gio!”, said Guzma, who was laying down on the floor, “I don't know why you guys put up with that freak to begin with! Why don't ya just kick 'im out, eh?”</p>
<p class="western">“Ghetsis is here for the same reason you're here, Guzma! Every time I tell him to leave, he ignores it! And when I finally get you to leave, you just come back on the next day!”</p>
<p class="western">“Heh! Don't compare me to that lunatic, Gio!” chuckled the Skull Boss, purposefully ignoring the innuendo.</p>
<p class="western">“Well, Gio, you did say Guzma could visit us! Also, he's a nice guy!” said Archie, entering the living room with a mug of chocolate milk.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, Gio! I'm just visitin'!”</p>
<p class="western">“Visiting for two weeks straight and sleeping inside the house?” asked the Rocket Boss.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, come on! It's not two weeks, just 12 days!” complained Guzma, still smiling, and Giovanni snorted.</p>
<p class="western">“Well, Lysandre has visited us for longer than that...” said Maxie, moving aside to give room to his partner, who sat by his side on the couch.</p>
<p class="western">“Lysandre was invited...” groaned Giovanni, then put his newspaper down for a second. “By the way, it's been a while since the last time we heard from him...”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, yeah...” said Maxie. “Last time I spoke to him over the phone, he said he was very busy with his Team Flare project... He seemed slightly different from his usual self, though. I was a bit worried...”</p>
<p class="western">“How so?” asked the Rocket Leader.</p>
<p class="western">“Well, he was very excited about his project, but also a bit emotional... I mean, he is an emotional person, he's always been, but... Oh, well, there was something weird about him. And in the end, he said... 'I wish we could see each other again, but unfortunately, it's not gonna happen”... It was a bit overly dramatic, I mean, how busy could he be? Eventually he'll have the time to visit.”</p>
<p class="western">“Hm... Yes, that's kind of odd. But well, he must be overwhelmed with work or something.” said Giovanni, calmly.</p>
<p class="western">Inside his room, upstairs, Ghetsis finished his piece, and for a few seconds, everything was quiet in the mansion. Soon the old man started to play again, but this time, the music was from the Romantic period, which pleased Giovanni a bit more than the previous one.</p>
<p class="western">“Hey, Guzma...” said Maxie, “what about Lusamine's kids?”</p>
<p class="western">“Wha-?” asked the Skull Boss, sitting up.</p>
<p class="western">“Lusamine's kids... How are they?”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, uh... I kinda haven't talked to them lately, but... Sure they're fine!”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, I thought they would visit us some time!” said Archie, after taking a sip of his chocolate milk.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, well... Maybe they will, who knows...” replied Guzma, lying back down. Perhaps he should try to reach Gladion and tell him about his mother after all... The problem was, he had no idea where the kid was, and hadn't talked to them ever since he left Alola. “Know what?” he said, suddenly standing up, “I'ma head for a walk! See ya folks!”</p>
<p class="western">Guzma left the house and started walking around the city. Lusamine had already told him that the kids were now living in that city as well, with their grandfather, so it shouldn't be so hard to find them. If anyone could tell him where Gladion was, that person would most likely be in the Pokécenter. He described the boy to the nurse, but had no luck. He proceeded to talk to some strangers in the building, but no one seemed to have heard of that kid. “To the next center we go, I guess...” thought the Bug Type trainer leaving the Pokémon Center, and started going up the street.</p>
<p class="western">It was almost dark when Guzma finally got the info he needed. He had been out on the streets for almost five hours, so it was a relief to get results after all. Not that he had walked very far, or visited that many places... He had spent almost all the afternoon looking for different Pokémon, chilling at the central square and eating cheap food. But after three Pokécenters, he managed to find one with a very useful poster hanging on the wall next to the city map.</p>
<p class="western">“Missing, eh?” said the man, examining the piece of paper he took from the wall.</p>
<p class="western">The poster had a picture of Lusamine in it, with a reward in money and a phone number for contact. The Skull Boss grinned before shoving the poster in his pocket. “Oh, yeah, baby! Ya boy Guzma is gonna make some cash!” he thought, “and I was in for the charity... To reunite the family and all! Hah! I'm a lucky son of a Jynx...”</p>
<p class="western">The Bug trainer got his phone from his pocket and called the number on the paper. He heard a low voice answering the phone. It sure was a male voice, but clearly not Gladion's.</p>
<p class="western">“Hey, can I talk to Gladion, please?” said the man. “Thanks!”</p>
<p class="western">A few seconds passed.</p>
<p class="western">“Yo, Gladion! Long time no see! … What do you mean who? It's big bad Guzma here! Don't you recognize my voice, kid?! … Hey, whoa, don't hang up on me like that! Listen! I've got your mom's location! … It ain't no joke, dude, I'm dead serious here, I know where she is. I got your number on a poster here in the Pokécenter... Yeah, dude, I left Alola too, wild isn't it? … Well, all right... I'll give you her location, just meet me at the Central Square with my money, is that OK? … Dude, you can always trust me! Relax! … All right, see ya soon!”</p>
<p class="western">After nearly an hour, Gladion showed up on the square and saw Guzma lying down on a bench.</p>
<p class="western">“You better be telling the truth, Guzma...” said the boy, and the other man opened his eyes.</p>
<p class="western">“Gladion! Heya! How are ya doin', kiddo?”</p>
<p class="western">“Whatever. Just tell me about my mother.” he replied.</p>
<p class="western">“Sheesh, don't be such an emo! At least gimme a smile! Don't ya miss me?”</p>
<p class="western">“Guzma, seriously... I've been really worried about mother, it's been months since she disappeared, so if this is just some sick joke...”</p>
<p class="western">“It's not, relax” replied the man sitting up, now slightly more serious. “I know where she is, and you won't friggin' believe me, all right? But I can take you there!”</p>
<p class="western">“Take me there? Tonight?”</p>
<p class="western">“Tonight, tomorrow, next week, whenever you want! She's livin' in a mansion nearby, with a buncha guys!”</p>
<p class="western">“What?” asked the boy, startled.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, nice folks, don't worry! She's happy too! Totally nuts, but this time in a good way it seems! I haven't heard her argue with anyone ever since I started livin' there!”</p>
<p class="western">“<em>You </em>are living there?”</p>
<p class="western">“Not officially, but... Whatever, let's say I am!” he giggled.</p>
<p class="western">“Well... Fine. Take me there and I'll pay you after I get to see her...” said Gladion.</p>
<p class="western">“Deal! Just follow me!” replied the Skull Boss.</p>
<p class="western">After less than an hour, the two arrived at Giovanni's mansion, and Gladion widened his eyes. He had seen that house before. The thought that his mother had been living there all this time was insane.</p>
<p class="western">The Skull Boss opened the gate with the keys he had copied from Giovanni without him knowing and led the boy to the main door.</p>
<p class="western">“I'm back!” he said, opening the door, but there was no reply. “Hm. Weird... Usually Giovanni would have already said somethin' like 'not again' or 'then leave' by now...”</p>
<p class="western">The two trainers walked in and Guzma led Gladion to the living room, where he saw Giovanni sitting on his chair and Ghetsis reading on the couch. Maxie and Archie weren't around anymore, and Lusamine was probably upstairs. But the whole house was silent, and there was a heavy atmosphere.</p>
<p class="western">“Yo, Giovanni, this here is Gladion. He's Lusie's kid. You know where she is?” said the Skull Boss.</p>
<p class="western">It took Giovanni a few seconds to reply, although he wasn't doing anything in particular, just sitting on his armchair in silence.</p>
<p class="western">“It's... really not the best time to bring guests over, Guzma...” he said, and the Skull Boss noticed he sounded sad.</p>
<p class="western">“Sorry, dude. But he probs won't stay much...” replied the man, “anythin' wrong...?”</p>
<p class="western">Giovanni sighed and closed his eyes.</p>
<p class="western">“Lusamine is upstairs, in her room... Take the kid to see her.” he said, and then remained in silence. Guzma glanced at Ghetsis, but the old man was also quiet, and didn't take his eyes off his book.</p>
<p class="western">“Right...” said Guzma, then made a hand sign for Gladion to follow him.</p>
<p class="western">“They're not usually like this, y'know? Usually everyone is more talkative around here...” he said, while going upstairs.</p>
<p class="western">As they walked past Archie and Maxie's room, Guzma heard someone sobbing. It sounded like Archie, but he wasn't sure. They continued walking.</p>
<p class="western">“Here!” he said, then knocked on the door. “Lusie! Got a surprise for ya!”</p>
<p class="western">But instead of cheerfully running to the door like she would normally do, the former Aether President merely walked to them and slowly opened the door. She wasn't smiling, and Guzma realized whatever had happened was serious.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh!” said Lusamine, upon seeing her son, “Gladdy-boy!” she smiled slightly.</p>
<p class="western">“Mother!” replied the kid, surprised to see that what Guzma had said was in fact the truth, and then hugged her briefly, “Lillie is dead worried! How did you even escape the hosp... Uh... The spaceship?”</p>
<p class="western">“Nihilego helped me... Why didn't you bring Lillie-billy with you?”</p>
<p class="western">“I was worried Guzma might be lying...”</p>
<p class="western">“Yo, dude, I said you could trust me!” complained the Bug trainer, but he was ignored.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, well, he does that a lot!” she giggled, “Come in, Gladdinson! Let me introduce you to my friends! This is Johnatthan!” she said, pointing at a cushion, and Gladion waved at it before continuing to speak.</p>
<p class="western">“Mother... how long have you been living here?” he asked.</p>
<p class="western">“I lost count of the days, but more than 4.” she replied, “look, this right here is Mr. Rimsky!” she said, picking up an old brick she had left on the floor, “He loves soup...”</p>
<p class="western">“This is nice, mother, but... I really think you have to go back to the spaceship now... They miss you there!” he said.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, no... I don't like it there! I like living here with Giovanni, Rimsky and Ploftybuckers...” she replied. “Besides, Nihilego likes it here as well!”</p>
<p class="western">“But, mother... Who even are these people you're living with?”</p>
<p class="western">“They are criminals...” she said, still smiling, and Gladion scratched his head. Clearly, he didn't believe her answer.</p>
<p class="western">“Look, mother, I know you don't like the spaceship much, but... Well, uh... I promised the President of Jupiter that you would visit him, so you have to go, right?!”</p>
<p class="western">“You can send him a telegram canceling it... I really want to stay here now. And it's how it's supposed to be! Nihilego said I was going to live here now!”</p>
<p class="western">“But...” babbled Gladion.</p>
<p class="western">“Yo, dude, I don't know what the heck you talkin' about but... don't worry!” said Guzma, “guys here are pretty nice! Look at this room they gave her, I mean... She's living with comfort and in safety!”</p>
<p class="western">“But... her treatment...” whispered the boy.</p>
<p class="western">“Dude, like... honestly, comparing this to what I've seen back there in Alola, I totally prefer how she is right now, no offense! Look at her!” answered Guzma, and pointed at Lusamine, who was caressing the brick and holding it like a baby. “I've never seen her so chill! I don't know what these guys be doin' to her, but it's workin' like any professional treatment you could get!”</p>
<p class="western">“Well... I guess...” replied Gladion. “It's no use to take her back to the hospital if she'll just escape again anyways...”</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah dude, and now you know where you can find her!” Deep inside, Guzma wanted Lusamine to stay in the mansion, since she was the one thing that allowed him to go back there all the time.</p>
<p class="western">Gladion stood still for a while, watching his mother play with her objects. She seemed calm and happy overall, although she wasn't very energetic at the moment.</p>
<p class="western">“I'm going to talk to my sister about it... I'll be back with an answer.” he said, crossing his arms. “For now, thanks for the info.”</p>
<p class="western">Guzma smiled as the kid put his hand in his pocket and took out a pack of money.</p>
<p class="western">“Here. As promised...” he stated, trying to sound distant, and was immediately surprised with a strong tap on his back that almost made him fall down.</p>
<p class="western">“Thanks, kiddo! That's what I'm talkin' about!” said Guzma, smiling and counting his money.</p>
<p class="western">“You said they are treating her well here, right?” asked the boy, after a brief silence.</p>
<p class="western">“Sure are!” answered Guzma, “but if you don't believe me, then ask her!”</p>
<p class="western">Gladion walked to his mother and Guzma heard him ask lots of questions about who she lived with and how they treated her. Lusamine replied to it all very calmly, and seemed very satisfied with her new housemates. After a few minutes, the boy finally accepted that things seemed to be OK. He kissed her on her cheek and said goodbye, then walked back to Guzma's direction.</p>
<p class="western">“Well... I'm going now...” said the kid.</p>
<p class="western">“Yo, Glad-a-boy...” said Guzma, when the kid left the room again. “Y'know, about all that mess back in Alola... Sorry about anythin', y'know? You're a cool kid.”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh... Thanks, I guess.” said Gladion, looking away. “You're a cool dude too... Thanks for telling me about Lusamine.”</p>
<p class="western">Guzma took him downstairs and led him outside. After the kid went away, the Skull Boss headed back inside, as if he lived in that place, and sat down on the floor near the window.</p>
<p class="western">“So...” he said. Everything was exactly like a few minutes before when he arrived with Gladion. “What exactly did I miss...?” he asked.</p>
<p class="western">“Are you seriously staying one more night?” asked Giovanni.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, dude... Guess I am... Why you changin' topic?”</p>
<p class="western">There was another short moment of silence, but this time, it was broken by Maxie's voice, and not Giovanni's.</p>
<p class="western">“It just won't sink in... I still can't believe it...” he said as he went down the stairs, followed by Archie, who was still sobbing, and Guzma noticed the two of them had slightly reddish eyes.</p>
<p class="western">“Heya, Max!” said Guzma, hopeful to get an explanation this time, “What's up?”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, Guzma...” replied the Magma Boss, “Well... This is hard to talk about...”</p>
<p class="western">“Everythin' all right?” he asked, and Giovanni finally lost his patience.</p>
<p class="western">“No, Guzma! Obviously, it's not everything all right!” he said, grumpily, and looked away.</p>
<p class="western">“Yo, OK, I just... wanted to understand what happened!” replied the man, and then glanced around at the others. Everyone but Ghetsis was looking down, and even the old man seemed shook up by something.</p>
<p class="western">“It's Lysandre...” said Maxie, after a few seconds of silence, and Archie immediately started crying again.</p>
<p class="western">“What's up with Lysandre?” asked Guzma.</p>
<p class="western">“He...” said the Magma Boss, “he died...”</p>
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